


Stingray

by ChaoticMigraine



Category: Glass (2019), Split (2016)
Genre: Age Difference, Angst, Dissociative Identity Disorder, F/M, First Time, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Jealousy, Physical Abuse, Possessive Behavior, Sexual Abuse, conflicted - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2019-10-26 21:29:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 9
Words: 35,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17753816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaoticMigraine/pseuds/ChaoticMigraine
Summary: "Why a Stingray?" His deep and neutral voice is somewhat quiet. She keeps her eyes on the stingrays swimming slowly around the enclosure, feeling his gaze on her.The darkness, the dim lights and the slight movement of water reflecting of their faces and clothes make the atmosphere intimate and almost suffocating. But Casey likes it and wishes they could stay here forever."'Cause sometimes I wish I could hide from predators as well as them." She answers back in a whisper.





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

« Alright guys, as I said earlier in class, you can explore the park by yourselves but I want you all back at our meeting point at three p.m. on the dot so we can meet with Dr Burn who’s responsible for the veterinary department. Please try to stay together and do not wander too far away as we won’t wait for you.” Mrs Hall looks at the group of high schoolers assembled outside the coach. The harsh winter wind makes the students shiver in their coats, and some girls hook each other’s arms to warm up. Most girls seem to have pampered themselves for the school trip, wearing clothes they would normally wear on a Saturday afternoon at the mall, some even wear makeup, as if it was their chance to show the boys of their class what they dress like outside of school. Most of the boys seem more interested in their phone’s screens than their surroundings.  
“She nicely offered to show us around to give you an idea what it’s like to work in the veterinary clinic and laboratories of a zoo. It will be very interesting, especially for those of you who are thinking to undertake a science course at university next academic year.” 

Casey looks at the buildings making up Philadelphia Zoo and the air balloon floating near the entrance of the zoo, absently. She stands slightly in retreat of the group that forms her class. Unlike the other girls, she is wearing the same clothes she usually wears at school, black jeans, black crop top with a white long sleeve top on top of it and a dark grey oversize sweater on top of it all. She’s sporting a beat-up pair of black Converses and a simple black coat which does not look warm enough. She shivers slightly and try in vain to pull on the zipper of her coat to close it further, despite knowing that her coat is already zipped up. She retracts her neck and hides her nose inside her coat as much as she can. Once Mrs Hall finishes her speech, the whole group of students are following her close behind almost as a block, groups of friends forming, excited and chatting to each other while Casey remains behind the group by herself, her hands in her pockets.  
Casey does not mind being alone, she actually enjoys it and always seek seclusion but as she looks at her classmates enjoying themselves and walking in front of her, it makes her feel lonelier than usual and she can feel her heart tightening. She quickly reminds herself how easier and peaceful it is to be alone before slowly making her way to the entrance. 

Casey looks up at the cage that forms a bridge nearby the huge entrance sign “Philadelphia Zoo”, with amazement as two tigers’ pace around. Casey has always loved the zoo and the animals, seeing those huge specimens never ceased to amaze her even now. It also reminded her of her father, he used to take her often as a child in order to show her and educate her about the most beautiful predators in this world. He wanted to teach her the difference between a good hunter and a bad one; a hunter is not supposed to hunt an endangered species and do not hunt to collect prizes. After her dad passed, she hasn’t been back once to the zoo, her uncle couldn’t be bothered and growing up, she quickly learnt not to ask anything of her uncle.  
Also, her uncle believed most animals in that zoo belong on his walls or as carpet in his house.  
After Mrs Hall sorted the tickets out, she shouts a last warning at the students dispersing in front of her: “Three p.m. by the Rare Animal Conservation Centre.” Before she could finish, most students were already gone, walking in different direction. Casey looks at her classmates walking away as she remains by herself, not knowing where to go. Mrs Hall walks towards her with an encouraging smile and the map of the zoo in one hand.  
“Would you like me to visit the zoo with you, Casey?”  
Casey pushes a lock of hair behind her ears and tries to give her teacher a reassuring smile: “Thank you, Mrs Hall but I’ll be fine. I think I want to see the polar bears first.”  
“Well, it’s up to you, Casey. Come back at three for the veterinary clinic visit.”  
With a nod, Casey started walking away, looking down at the map. She fetches her phone and earphones in her coat pocket and plays No surprise by The Shack. 

She walks slowly looking at the kangaroos and other animals on the way before finally reaching the Bear Country enclosure where the polar bears are, her favourites. She approaches the enclosure to take a good look and read the information board. She checks her phone for the time, and it is only half past eleven. She decides to go to the Primates Reserve and then stop for food and grab a burger at the Tiger Terrace while observing the Big Cat Falls.  
She craves a smoke but knows smoking is banned on the premises so she looks around for some kind of hideout where she wouldn’t be spotted and kicked out of the facilities. In another hand, she thinks she wouldn’t mind get caught and get detention for the next week. She spots pre-fabricated buildings nearby the Big Cat Falls that are a restricted area to the public, a warning sign “Staff Only” has been installed on the metallic surface of the pre-fabricated cabin.  
She walks towards it discreetly and circles it, so she is hidden from the public eyes, she feels at peace straight away, she sighs and feels as she can breathe better, her shoulders slacking a little, she hasn’t even notice how tense she has been. Here, hidden from the public eyes and the noises of the crowd seems somewhat reduced, it feels as she is in her little bubble.  
She sits down against the cold and grey metallic cabin and search her backpack for a cigarettes pack. She lights her cigarette and exhale the smoke while choosing another song on her phone. “The Scientist” by Coldplay plays and she closes her eyes enjoying the music and her smoke. Half way down her cigarette, she can feel a shadow on her face and she slowly open her eyes, she jumps as she sees two strong legs standing perfectly straight, as she slowly looks up, a man in his mid-thirties looks at her severely.  
Once she encounters his eyes, he says something that she can’t hear because of the music blaring in her earphones but she clearly sees his mouth moving. His stand is strong and confident, back straight and arms cross over the chest, Casey notices then the small badge that says Maintenance on his dark grey shirt. The man in front of her is wearing a dark grey shirt, button up all the way to the neck, tuck inside a grey working trousers with a black belt, and black security boots. Casey can picture his body as it seems the man in front of her fills up the clothes, she can even see the shape of his muscles as his arms remains tightly crossed. When she looks up at him, his deep blue eyes are still on her face and he’s frowning, making the wrinkles between his eyes more pronounce. Blood rushes to her face when she realises, she’s been staring him down.  
At first, she thinks he’s frowning looking at her face but quickly she realised his staring at her cigarette in her hand. She quickly stands up, throw it on the floor and while removing her earphones, she steps on her cigarette to stop it from smoking.

“Smoking is forbidden on the premises.” He says firmly, staring at her, making her feel embarrassed and nervous.  
“I’m sorry.” She says quietly. She stands there, observing him while he is now staring down at the smashed-up cigarette on the floor. He inhales sharply through his nose and passes a hand on the back on his head, stroking his short hair. His stance seems shakier and more nervous.  
“Look at the mess you’ve made”.  
He walks past her and reach for the set of keys attached to his belt before opening the cabin. He disappears inside it and for some reason, Casey is glued to the ground, it was the perfect moment to escape, she knows the guy wouldn’t be able to find her in the crowd and he didn’t ask her name either. However, his strange behaviour got her curious and for once, her mind is set on something else than her uncle.  
He comes back before she can think about running off anymore. He has a dust pan and brush in his hand and crouches in front of her now extinguished cigarette. He collects it and throw it away in the nearby bin. He walks back inside the cabin and comes out once again to lock it after himself.  
“This is a restricted area for staff only. – He seems shy now and avoid her eyes like he would be nervous or embarrassed. Maybe both. Casey can see his eyes hovering her body and slightly feels self-conscious for a second, pulling on her sleeves. He sighs and passes a hand on the back of his head again. A nervous tic, thinks Casey – You should go.” 

“You’re not gonna get me kicked out?” Again, her voice is barely above the whisper.

“No. I have work to do.” 

As she felt the conversation is over, Casey grabs her backpack and walks to the Rare Animal Conservation Centre, the strange staff member on her mind. She has always been very observant and had developed some kind of sixth sense with people. She usually gets a feeling when she meets someone and can tell straight away what type of people they are and who can she trust. Weirdly she couldn’t seem to know what to think of the maintenance guy. He definitely has some kind of OCD and seemed socially impaired. Maybe some kind of autism, he could be Asperger. Once inside the rare Animal Conservation Centre, she spends a fair amount of time reading the information boards and observing the weird species in their enclosure absently. 

More and more of her classmates enters the Conservation Centre, making the place noisy and crowded. Mrs Hall was going around the students, asking them how went their visit and if they learnt anything. Dr Burn came in and shook Mrs Hall’s hand, Mrs Hall turned around and cleared her throat before calling the class to attention. “Right guys, I’m happy to introduce you to Dr Burn. I hope you’re excited and don’t be shy to ask questions.”  
Dr Burn introduced herself and gave the students a brief idea of what they will visit and see. She has a gentle voice and a kind smile. She was young and pretty, long silky brown hair and big honey eyes with porcelain skin. The students started to gather as a group and follow Dr Burn around the “behind the scene” of the zoo. The visit was actually interesting, and Casey easily imagined herself working at the veterinary clinic and coming back to her own little safe flat. They couldn’t get inside the laboratories, but they could observe the scientists work through huge windows that gives on the corridors of the building. The final part of the visit was the McNeil Avian Centre, where the birds are. As the bird centre closes its door at four p.m., Dr Burn had to use her electronic key card to get them inside it.  
“Once the centre is shut, the zoo keepers feed the birds and re-organize their habitats. Usually, bringing new tropical flowers, changing the water and checking the temperature is right. Please don’t mind the staff as some maintenance is usually done after closure.” 

As they walk in, they can feel the warmth around them and getting out of the centre in a mist as Dr Burn close the door shut behind them. The centre feels like a greenhouse, hot and humid, there are tropical colourful plants everywhere and colourful birds flying from branches to branches. Indeed, some zookeepers are feeding the birds while others adding more soils to the surrounding plants and ground. A maintenance staff is carrying a heavy looking tropical plant, guided by a zookeeper.  
Casey recognizes the maintenance guy of earlier on top of a ladder with a screwdriver in his right hand while his left hand is holding open what’s look like a complicated thermostat. For some reason, she feels excited to see him again and wishes she could go closer and talk to him.  
As Dr Burn starts her explanation on tropical birds and their special needs, Casey cannot stop herself from looking up at the maintenance staff. He has a piece of plastic in his mouth and he has the same frown on his face due to concentration. Casey was definitely not the type of girl to check boys out and seek attention, but she finds it difficult to not stare at him, thinking he is an attractive man.  
He comes down the ladder and wipes the sweat from his forehead with one sleeve. He then removes his dark grey shirt and reveal a white tank top underneath it. He carelessly throws the shirt on a lower step of the ladder. Casey frowns at that, confused as the behaviour of the guy seems totally different, his body seems relax and his face is open and friendly. Surely, a guy with OCD wouldn’t throw his shirt like that? This could be a completely different person. 

A few girls from class notices him and start giggling, Casey can see a girl tapping the shoulders of her friends to point out the maintenance guy. Casey ignores the flush of anger and unreasonable possessiveness coming over her.  
His muscly arms are now visible, and as he climbs back up to get the thermostats fixed, Casey can see his shredded back and shoulders.  
By the end of the visit, most zookeepers have left, and the maintenance guy has finally fixed the thermostat as he is now tidying away his tools in his toolbox and putting away the ladder. Most students are already on their way to the coach and as Casey is about to leave as well, she spots a group of girls giggling and chatting up. Casey feels they’re up to no good as they keep glancing towards the maintenance guy and two girls that she recognizes as Marcia and Claire, two popular girls of her class that she usually tries to ignore as much as possible. Those girls are the mean girls of the school, part of the cheerleading squad and the bullies of her class.  
She feels like she should leave and avoid any confrontation but something inside her make her stay and want to protect the guy that she knows he’s about to get devour by those girls. She owes him one, right? He did let her leave without trouble after catching her smoking. As she approaches them, she can hear the girls talking to him mockingly.  
“Someone ever told you that you’re pretty hot?” She could see the blood rushing on the maintenance guy’s face. He couldn’t look at the girls faces, looking anywhere but them, sporting a polite and shy smile and seemed incredibly nervous, not knowing what to do with his hands, grabbing his tools and shirt without any purpose.  
“Aww look, he’s getting red” Claire says with a fake sweet smirk.  
“Are you a virgin or something?” They laughed.  
“I bet you’ve never touched a girl before” Marcia grabbed his hand strongly and forcefully guided it under her t-shirt, putting it on her breast while Claire did the same with his other hand.  
“No… that’s not...” He mutters, stepping back slightly.  
“The hell is wrong with you?” Casey grabbed Claire’s arm and wrenched it away hard and pushing her hard enough to make her slightly stumble back. Marcia pulls back from the man’s hand as he remains frozen and pushes Casey back.  
“Fuck you, Cooke. Why don’t you go back cutting your veins in a bath while listening to depressing music? You Emo bitch.” She winks at the maintenance guy and the girls jog away laughing out loud.  
As the last group of girls leave the centre, the silence wrapped them up. Incredibility and embarrassment were writing all over his face.  
Casey turns towards him and she can tell he’s really upset and embarrassed by the way his eyes are teary, and he erratically close his toolbox and put his shirt back on. 

“I’m sorry. They’re stupid bitches from my school.”  
She can see he tries his hardest to smile at her, reassuringly, like he’s not bothered.

“It’s just a teenage prank. It’s okay.” He says, waving a hand in the air and exaggeratingly rolling his eyes, she doesn’t recall him being so flamboyant and his voice being so light. 

“It’s not okay. They could get in trouble if I tell…”

“No! Don’t, it’s okay, I don’t want it to become a big deal.” 

Casey sighs, looking at her trainers.

“Still, it wasn’t cool.” She adds quietly.

He hums as an agreement and picks his toolbox up. “I have to go.” He says quietly, his voice hoarse and Casey can tell he’s about to cry. At first, she is too shocked to do or say anything and looks at him storming out of the centre by the back door sporting the warning “Staff only” on it. Before the door shuts close, she reaches it and comes out of it as well, running a little bit after him. 

“Wait!” She touches his arm and she feel him jerk and then stiffen. As he turns around to face her, she sees him straighten his back and he looks taller than he was a minute ago. Somehow, he now stands as confident as he did earlier in the day, the open and friendly face gone, replaced by cold blue eyes and a deep frown. She let her hand fall, actually scared of the way he severely looks at her. She can’t stop staring at his face, half surprised when she sees the still wet trail of tears on his cheeks. Now, she knows everybody cries but seeing a grown man crying still seem shocking to her for some reason. He plunges his hand in his trousers’ pocket and retrieve a pair of glasses that he put on. Casey is pretty sure she didn’t see him wearing glasses for his work so why needing glasses now?  
He wipes the tears angrily, and finally looks away embarrassed. 

“I have work to do and you’re trespassing again.” 

“Are you crying?” She asks quietly, and she cringes at how childish the question sound.

He sighs and passes a nervous hand on the back of his head.

“Look kid, I’m fine, okay? Now, leave, please.”

Casey nervously grabs the straps of her backpack on her shoulders as she stares at his face questioningly, not believing he’s okay. She knows she probably should leave but she wants to stay, something makes her feel good about being around him, maybe because he doesn’t know her yet and she can be whoever she wants right now, no fear, no uncle, no bruises. 

“Why do you wear glasses? You didn’t seem to need them earlier. “  
He stays quiet for a while, staring at her with the same frown. Casey thinks she can see some kind of confusion and surprise on his face but again, reading him was difficult. He licks his bottom lip with his tongue, and Casey can almost see his thought process in his head. 

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business, but I don’t need them to see things close to me. What are you still doing here? Aren’t you supposed to go back to school?” 

School. Shit. Adrenaline and fear washes over Casey as she curses quietly before checking the time on her phone. 5:25pm. The coach must have left by now, she thinks. And you can count on Marcia and Claire for shouting to the teacher that everyone is here and made it back, knowing Casey wasn’t back. Stress takes over her when she realizes she will have to give an explanation to her uncle for being back home late. 

“Everything all right?” Casey looks back at him, paler than before.

“Well, I think I missed the bus now.” She says with a slight grimace. 

“Jesus.” He exhales, looking elsewhere. 

Casey giggles at that, he seems pretty desperate to have her around. She is used to get into trouble and usually does it on purpose so she can get away from everyone. Her uncle would easily swallow the lies she’ll serve him. At that, she feels slightly lighter and her interests goes back to him. 

“What’s your name anyway?”

He sighs again and rolls his eyes.

“Dennis. - He doesn’t say anything for a few seconds and Casey thinks he won’t ask her back. He looks back at the Staff door of the Bird Centre, frowning and jaw locked. Casey doesn’t know if he’s angry or overthinking or both. Is he angry at her or is it because of Claire and Marica stunt? Before Casey can over think it, he finally looks back at her, inhaling sharply through the nose, eyes set on hers, unblinking. -What’s yours?”

“Casey. Casey Cooke. How long have you been working here?”

“Look, I can’t play babysitter with you, I’m afraid. I have work to do.”

“Fine- She looks at his shoes, disappointed. -I’m sorry for disturbing you.”

As she turns around to leave, she can hear sighs again.

“How are you getting back home?”

She turns around and shrugs her shoulder, with a smirk.

“I’ll figure it out. I always do.” She says, playfully, as she walks backward.

He looks up at the sky which is now fully black, the night has fallen and the temperature too. Only the bright enclosure spot-lights allow them to see around. He gives a quick glimpse at his watch.

“It’s late now, this isn’t safe for you to travel by yourself. I’ll clock out in half an hour. If you stick around, I’ll give you a lift back home.”

Casey stops in her track, considering the offer. It would save her some money and time, but at the same time she doesn’t know anything about this guy and from the vibes she got, he doesn’t seem very stable. Also, if her uncle finds out a man has driven her back home, things could get ugly. She absently chews on her lower lips while he’s observing her. Casey catches him glancing at her body, and she nervously wriggle from one foot to the other. If she stays, she could ask him questions and learn more about this mysterious Dennis. Being with him made her forget about her own problems. 

“Okay, Maintenance Boy, I’ll take you up on your offer.”

He nods after some time.

“Just don’t disturb me.”


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Casey follows him around closely, almost hovering his body while he was working, making him tense and sighs. So much for not disturbing him. For some reasons, she can’t stop herself from asking childish questions; “What is that?”, “Why for?”, “How?” and every time he sighs desperate and walks away from her, trying to put as much distance between them as possible while continuing working. She found herself smiling a lot around him, she somehow loves teasing him. She doesn’t recognize herself, she was never this playful.  
He finally locks up the pre-fabricated buildings before walking towards the entrance of the zoo. They both walk in a comfortable silence that they both seem to enjoy. 

“So, you didn’t answer my question earlier. How long you’ve been working here?”

He sighs for probably the hundred times of the day. 

“I knew this was too good to be true.”

“What?”

“You, being quiet for five minutes.” 

She giggles quietly and she is surprised when he joins in. He too has a quiet laugh. 

“I’m curious, that’s all.” 

“You must have asked me about a thousand questions in an hour time. You’re an absolute brat.” He says smiling. 

“I’m actually not that bad. So?”

“A little bit over a year.” 

“What were you doing before?”

“Similar job but at the aquarium.” 

“No way! Adventure aquarium, downtown?” She asks, excited, almost skipping next to him. 

“Yeah, why?” 

“That’s my hideout. I love going there anytime I can. You obviously can’t approach this place in summer but during the academic year, it’s pretty quiet. I found it so peaceful in there.” 

“Hm… I know what you mean.” He seems thoughtful. 

“So, I take it you love animals?” 

“I sure do.” 

Casey could tell Dennis wasn’t much of a talker, but she didn’t mind. She understood and she likes it somehow. It was nice to be the one making the conversation for once. 

“Why did you change? From the aquarium to the zoo?” She adds when he looks at her confused. He looks back in front of him, frowning. 

“It’s complicated.”

“How so?” 

“Uh…- He sighs, rubbing the back of his head nervously. – I… I have a condition.” 

“What type of condition?” 

“A challenging one...” He offers with a timid smile. 

Casey nods slowly, studying him. She can tell he is nervous, probably embarrassed too. She knows what it is to have heavy and embarrassing secrets. She looks for an easy way out for him, the kind she wishes people would give her sometimes. 

“Well, the zoo is awesome too. And you got the polar bears.” She smiles.

They take a few steps down into a gloomy underground corridor. The corridor is painted in an old beige, there were no windows, and the place was only light up by big square-shaped industrial lights. He clocks out and fetches his key sets on his belt before turning to her. Casey merely centimetres away. 

“I need to get back to mine to fetch my car keys.” He says without looking at her, rubbing the back of his head. Casey looks at him with a confused frown.

“I live here, on the premises.” He adds. 

“Here?”

“The job came with accommodation for staffs that work nightshifts most of their contract. And it is bigger than my last place. - Casey doesn’t know why he feels the need to explain himself. Is he embarrassed? – It’s down the corridor. Uh…Give me a minute, I’ll be back soon.”

He seems to hesitate for a split second but then starts walking toward his place. Casey can see him looking for the specific key on his set and then disappears in his flat. Casey hesitates, shuffling around before walking toward his apartment. As soon as she reaches the door, she lays on the door frame lightly and peaks inside. The room is a small kitchen, grey and white, a fridge, a few counters and an oven. There is also a small table with two chairs facing each other’s, and as she expects it, the place is spotless. There are no windows, so the place is rather dark. She sneaks in quietly, knowing full well this isn’t a good idea, like she is over stepping the boundaries.  
The kitchen opens on a corridor with four doors. She can hear him looking for his keys in one of the rooms, she decides to be brave and walks in what looks like his living room. Again, there aren’t any windows and the room are only light up by lamps and a colourful light balls garland that runs around a TV, making the room warmer.  
He looks at her, shock painted on his face at first, before walking towards her with a severe look.  
He stops a few centimetres next to her and Casey backs up by instinct. 

“I told you to wait for me.” He looks taller now than he is so close to her and stares deep in her eyes. She curses herself for her recklessness. She opens her mouth, but nothing comes out, so she decides to smoothly change the topic.  
She looks around his living room carefully. 

“You have a nice place.” Casey steps aside and peaks above his shoulder. The more she looks at the room, the more confused she gets. The room seems erratic, it is spotless still but with a large number of DVDs, CDs, books of all sorts on shelves. There are some papers and colour crayons in a pot on the coffee table near the sofa. There is an open laptop on the sofa and different type of clothes on the back of the sofa. The kitchen was somewhat cold and without character. The living room, however, feels full of life, which doesn’t correspond to the guy she has in front of her. When she turns her gaze back to him, he looks at her curiously.

“What?” He asks.

“Do you live alone?”

“Yes. If you’re done visiting my place, can we go?”

She rolls her eyes and smirks. 

“I didn’t even start visiting your place. – She swiftly passes by him and walks towards the shelves to observes the CDs. – You like Drake?” She sounds surprise and pull the album out of the shelf.  
He quickly joins her and takes the album out of her hand to put it back neatly where it was. He exhales sharply through his nose, and he rubs his eyes tiredly. 

“Yes, I guess I do.”

“I like him too. Every album he makes are good. -She says smiling- “In my feeling” is probably my favourite at the moment. I love Post Malone too. Do you know him?”

“Yes, I’m not that old yet.” 

“Just checking.” She says putting her hands up in peace. He smiles, amused.

“You got yourself a nice collection here.” She can’t believe she is in the flat of a stranger, talking about music instead of being home with her uncle. He doesn’t say anything for a long time, and she can see him stare at the sofa with a frown, lost in thoughts before his shoulders slack a little. Casey wonders if it’s because he finally allows himself to relax or because he finally gives in and stops trying to run away from her. 

“What do you usually listen to?”

“A little bit of everything -She answers, happily surprised by the question- Literally from Coldplay to Eminem, passing by Post Malone, Radiohead, Underworld and many more.” She gives a glance towards his DVDs collection. “You’re into movies as well?”

“Who isn’t? I have Netflix now, so I don’t really watch any of those anymore to be honest.” 

“I really wanted Netflix, but my uncle didn’t let me have it.” She says shrugging her shoulders, still looking at the DVDs. 

“Uncle?” 

Casey freezes and turns around to see him frown, arms crossed over his chest. She bites her lips nervously and nods. 

“Yeah. I live with him.”

“What about your parents?”

“They’re not around anymore. – She turns towards the light garland before he can say anything. – I’m a fan of the lights by the way.” She smiles and he nods slowly, still digesting the information. He glances at his watch.

“We should get going, we don’t want your uncle to call the cops thinking you got kidnapped or something.” 

Casey nods, sad that her time out comes to an end. 

“I’m sorry for intruding into your territory so abruptly, but I like your crib.” 

He laughs at that.

“Thanks. I don’t usually listen to music in the car, but if you want, you can pick a CD to listen to for the drive.” 

She smiles excited. “Sure.” She runs a finger on the albums and settles on “Generation 2000”.  
She laughs showing him her choice. “That one for sure.” 

His car is a small black five doors car that seem to be a few years old. It is parked in the parking lot of the zoo, in a designated staff parking space. He opens Casey’s door with a yellow cloth that he keeps in his coat pocket and closes it back once Casey is sat down. Once inside the car, he turns the heating on as much as he can and shivers.

“God, I hate the cold weather.” He says with a light voice and a playful smile. 

Casey looks at him curiously as she notices his face is open and friendly again, like it was earlier in the day, his eyes are shiny, and his smile is cheeky. He seems much more relax, his shoulders slack and he spread his legs wider.

“Give me that, baby girl.” He says as he takes the CD from her hand. Casey doesn’t react, her mouth slightly agape. Did he call her baby girl? He slides the CD in and “Love at First Sight” by Kylie Minogue starts blaring. He puts in hands up and starts moving in rhythm with the music.  
Casey looks at him incredulously but an amused smile forms on her lips when he turns to her, bobbing his head in rhythm and he starts singing on top of the song, pretty badly. She giggles and joins him up. 

“Where am I taking you, honey?” He shouts on top of the music. 

“849 N Marshall Street, in Poplar. If that’s alright?”

He nods without stopping his singing and starts pulling out of the parking lot. The drive is smooth and fun, they listen to the music, sings and Casey always gets excited when a new song starts, not believing how old and cool the song is. Casey doesn’t remember the last time she let her hair down, or the last time she felt safe enough to relax and have fun. 

As Casey recognizes her neighbourhood, she starts feeling nauseous, stress spreading from her stomach to her throat, like a strong iron grip around her throat, preventing her from breathing. She lowers the volume down a little bit while “Californication” by Red Hot Chili Peppers is playing. Dennis rotates his face to look at her before looking back at the road. 

“Everything okay, baby?”

“Yeah- she clears her throat- We’re not too far now. Would it be okay to just let me out up this street? I can walk from there.” 

He frowns and leans on the window to check the street’s name. N 7th St. 

“You sure? We’re not even in your street yet. It’s freezing outside.” He looks at her and Casey guesses he’s worried. 

Casey can’t take the risk to be seen coming out of a stranger’s car by her uncle. She nods.

“I’ll be fine”. She offers him a smile. 

He stops the car nearby a pavement on the 7th Street as Casey’s requests, leaving the engine on. He turns the volume off completely and the silence falls on them, only the engine quietly running can be heard, and Casey feels awkward now, being sat so closely to him, in such a small environment. It’s completely dark outside, and only a few street lamp posts were lighting up the street and the façade of the houses are barely visible. His head lights are still on, but the inside of the car is dark, so he goes to switch on the little light inside the car on top of their heads, but Casey stops him. He looks at her curiously and she silently shakes her head no. She doesn’t want any gossiping neighbours to peep outside and found out she got dropped back home by a guy twice her age. At least, the darkness of the car habitat was protecting them from being seen. He seems to understand it and sighs before settling back down on his seat.

Casey doesn’t know what to say, she doesn’t want to leave the warmth of the car, she feels safe and good here and he seems to sense it. They both stay quiet for a while, in the comforting darkness and warmth of the car. Casey sighs heavily and picks up her backpack. 

“Thank you for the ride back home. – She turns towards him, her back slightly to the door of the car. - And the evening.” She adds cringing when she notices it sounded like they have been on a date or something. 

“I mean… it was nice meeting you.” She adds quickly.

“I had a good time too. You’re a good laugh, baby girl. I needed that, after today.” 

Marcia and Claire’s prank comes back to her mind and she nods.

“What a bunch of stupid bitches.” She says angrily. 

“Don’t mention it, I’m okay now.” He says with a reassuring smile. 

“Do… Do you work this Saturday?” She feels nervous suddenly, her heart beating faster, she can’t believe she actually asked him that. 

He seems surprised for a second then looks at her suspiciously.

“Why?” He asks with a playful smile. 

“Maybe we could hang out.” It comes out more as a question. 

He seems to hesitate and sighs.

“I don’t know, sweetheart. I mean I like you, don’t get me wrong but I don’t think we’re the best pal you could have.”

They both freeze, looking at each other and Casey can tell he realises his mistake. 

“We?” She asks him with a frown, unsure if she heard properly. 

“I… I meant – He sighs heavily and squeezes the bridge of his nose with his hand and closes his eyes shut tight. He sits back, looking at the road again for a minute, quiet. Casey can tell he’s overthinking by the way he’s eyes are set on an invisible point, unblinking. He leans towards his window and comes to rest his elbow on the sill, his hand holding his jaw. – I have a condition, a mental disorder and it’s not easy to make friends. I don’t usually let people in my life and they usually don’t want to be part of it.” 

He sighs and looks at her.

“I don’t want to scare you away.” He says quietly.

Casey is quiet, thinking about what to say, what to think. On one hand, she has enough on her plate with her abusive uncle, she doesn’t need another crazy in her life. All she wants is to be free and independent, far away from her uncle. She doesn’t even need a companion, a friend and leave alone a boyfriend. But she can’t deny that she feels lonely and it felt good to be able to talk and joke with someone. As soon as she met him, she felt this weird link to him, like she was meant to be there. Deep down, she already knows she wants to see him again and it would take a lot to scare her away, after all, she’s been living with a monster since she was a child. 

She exhales sharply through her nose and looks up to him. 

“What? You’re a sociopath or something?” She tries to sound funny, but it comes out serious. 

“No! I’m…I’m not dangerous. – He stutters. - Well, at least, I Am Not.” He says the last words slowly, looking at her carefully and Casey frowns, knowing he was trying to tell her something. 

She replays his words again and again in her head, trying to make sense of them and suddenly she recalls his mood swings, his changing behaviour, one moment OCD and another moment throwing his shirt lazily on the ladder. Even now, his thick Boston accent felt smoother. 

“Do you have one of those personality, disorder things?” She whispers, her heart beating hard. 

He giggles, but it sounded sad. 

“It’s called DID. Dissociative Identity Disorder.” He dares a quick look towards her to try and read her face. 

Casey’s mouth falls open and a million questions comes to her mind. She knows she has to go soon, and she is annoyed as she won’t have time to ask everything she wants. 

“Like in Fight Club?” He genuinely laughs at that.

“Yeah, like in Fight Club.” 

“Wait! So, you’re not Dennis?” 

“Dennis struggles with the chit-chat or any kind of social interactions to be honest. I had to take over. I’m Barry.” He smiles at her with a playful wink. 

“I’m Casey.” She says slowly, not sure if this was real. 

“I know that, baby girl. -He smiles. – Dennis and I share the lights when we’re at work.” 

“The light? How many of you is there? Who is the real one? – He grimaces slightly at the last question. – I mean… the original?” 

Casey feels embarrassed and hopes she is not being rude. He looks at the digital clock in his car. 

“Sweetheart, I know you probably got a million questions right now, but it is late, and your uncle will start to wonder. I don’t want you to get into trouble.” 

“But…When will I see you next? Do you have a phone number? – She says getting her phone out of her jacket and unlocking it. - I didn’t run away from you yet.” She jokes. 

He seems conflicted and he bites his lower lips. 

“I don’t know if hanging out with someone half my age is a good idea.” 

“I’ll be eighteen in three weeks and I’ll be graduating in early May. And I could do with some “Stranger Things” catching up on Netflix.” They both giggles.

He sighs, resting his head on the head rest and looks at her on the side for a moment before he holds out his hand for her to put her phone in. She gives her phone away with a grin. 

“This is probably the worst decision I’ve ever made. - He mumbles while tapping his number in her contact. – There you go, baby girl.”

She frowns when she notices the name he used under his contact. 

“Kevin?”

“The original.” He winks. 

She nods and then calls him, and he saves her contact. 

“I see you Saturday then.” She opens the door of the car and gets out; the cold makes her shiver, but she can’t remove the smile from her face. 

He leans towards her seat and looks up at her as she stands and leans on his car. 

“I guess I don’t have any say in this.” 

“You got yourself a pal, stop complaining.” She smirks and shuts his car door. She waves him goodbye before walking back to her uncle’s two-bedroom house. 

Her uncle’s house is a small and dark house, a living room with an old cigarette smelling sofa positioned in front of an old and heavy television, the kitchen is small with a metallic looking table, the fridge is usually full of take-away boxes and deer meats from the last hunt. There is a small toilet downstairs and upstairs there is two medium bedrooms and a bathroom separating them. The house looks uncared for, every room is messy and smells strongly of cigarettes smoke, the wallpapers and floors are out dated and dark coloured. The small garden at the back is full of weeds and detritus.  
She can see the light is on in the kitchen and living room, she sighs before opening the front door. Her uncle is smoking, sat down in his Lazy-Boy, screaming loudly at the football game on television. 

“Hey.” She whispers. 

He takes a long drag out of his cigarette, looking at her with cold and calculating eyes. He exhales the smoke and crushes his cigarette on the ashtray on the arm of his chair. 

“Where the fuck were you, hmm?” His voice is steady and calm, Casey doesn’t like it. 

“I was in detention again, I hit some girl from my class at the zoo. She was being a bitch.” The lies come out easily, she is used to it. 

He stares at her silently, probably evaluating if her statement was true or not. He seems to buy it as he suddenly bursts out laughing. 

“That’s my girl! Little bitches deserve a good slapping around. I taught you well, Casey-bear.” 

Casey nods and sneaks in the kitchen, she puts her backpack on the floor and grabs a slice of pizza on the table. She sits and start eating when she feels the presence of her uncle in her back. He slides a hand on her shoulder and caresses her neck. She puts the rest of the slice on the pizza box, as she can feel the bile in her throat. His breathing is heavy, and he smells of cigarette and alcohol. 

“I missed you today. I almost thought you were gone out with one of those boys from school. – His hand comes around her throat and squeezes enough to restrict oxygen from passing for a bit. He lets go of it and his hand slides down in-between her breast. – You wouldn’t, right?”

“No, I wouldn’t. - Her voice is hoarse, and she can feel the tears running down her cheeks. He pushes her head against his belly with one hand, still sitting with the back of the chair against his lower belly, she looks up at him. – I’m sorry for making you worry.” 

His hand comes back to her throat and then covers her mouth. He slides two fingers inside her mouth and as he does so, he grabs his hardened cock on top of his light brown working trousers. She stays there, petrified. 

“Come watch some football with me. The eagles are on.” He removes his fingers from her mouth and goes to sit on the sofa. 

Casey sobs quietly and joins him on the sofa. She knew this was going to happen anytime soon as he hasn’t touch her for almost two months. He opens his trousers and he start stroking his hardened dick. 

“Don’t stay there like an idiot and come give a hand.” 

The many scars and burning cigarette holes on her body taught her over the years to not argue and do the job as quick as possible. She leans towards him and grits her teeth when she starts jerking him off. 

After he comes, he dismisses her with a wave of his hand, barely looking at her. She always wondered if he was embarrassed at all, or if he simply didn’t want to hear her sobs disturb his football game. She doesn’t wait any longer, she picks up her backpack in the kitchen and run to the bathroom. She hovers the toilets as she thinks she is going to be sick, but nothing comes out. She takes a boiling hot shower, but she still feels nauseous and numb afterwards.  
She locks herself in the safety of her bedroom and lays down on her bed. She checks her phone and she is surprised and excited to find a text from Kevin. 

'Did you make it home safe and sound?' 

The text was sent forty minutes earlier. She smiles and answers back.

'Yes, I’m all good. What are you up to?'

The answer comes instantly. 

'Good lord, baby girl. You could’ve fool me. I thought I was gonna see your little face on the news!'

They carry on texting, mainly talking about the best series on Netflix, his job and how much she is dreading going to school the next day. Casey notices how much she enjoys their conversation and how it keeps her mind away from her uncle. She isn’t brave enough to ask him anything about his DID via text and she manages to persuade him to meet up in Center City on Saturday.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Mrs Hall didn’t notice Casey wasn’t on the coach back from the school trip and therefore didn’t get any trouble for it. Casey was excited and happy to have met Kevin and couldn’t wait to meet him up on Saturday, making the week seem longer than usual. Even though the week passed rather slowly, it went unusually well, indeed, her good mood kept her out of trouble, she didn’t feel the need to answer back to teachers and she, for once, was happy to take part in school activities and even managed a few friendly smiles to her classmates.  
Her teachers seemed happy and somewhat relieved that she didn’t create any drama during classes and her classmates were surprised but carried on ignoring, her while she noticed some other students smiling back at her shyly.  
Casey and Barry texted pretty much every day of the week and every time, Casey couldn’t hide the smile on her lips. Two weekends a month, her uncle would go to a cabin with his friends in Ridley Creek State Park for their usual hunting weekends and luckily enough this weekend was one of them.  
Her alarm goes off at half past ten and she lazily grabs her phone on her night table to switch it off. She groggily rubs her eyes and stretches like a cat before getting up and opening up her curtains. She blinds herself for a second, before squinting and looking away. It was a nice day, sun and blue sky but she knows the temperature was still low. She quietly comes out of her bedroom and discreetly pushes open her uncle’s bedroom door ajar to peek in. She lets out a breath when she notices he isn’t there and probably already gone. A floating feeling comes across her as she knows she would be alone for the whole weekend. Finally, some freedom.  
She almost skips to the kitchen and grabs a bowl of cereal before slumping in the sofa and putting the television on. Casey never sits in his Lazy-Boy chair and even avoids looking at it. Her uncle always initiates anything sexual on his side of the sofa or his chair, just thinking about it makes her shivers with disgust.  
Once she’s done, she washes her bowl and climbs the stairs four by four. She opens her laptop and plays some music from YouTube, “Rockstar” by Post Malone starts and she puts the volume to the maximum, not caring much if the neighbours hear it. She runs to the bathroom and brushes her teeth while being on the toilet. After taking a shower, she envelops herself in a towel and goes to check her wardrobe for an outfit, she picks up her usual attire, black jeans and grey oversized sweaters. Half way from putting her jeans up, she stops and sighs. Maybe she could try a little bit today, couldn’t she? She goes back to her wardrobe and picks up an oversized burgundy sweater dress and a pair of black see-through tights. The sweater dress has a hoody and pockets which she likes, it’s warm and cosy. She then takes the little amount of makeup she owns to the bathroom and put on some blush and mascara. She brushes her hair but doesn’t bother drying them, she picks her phone up to text Kevin.

‘Still on for today?’

She throws her phone on her bed, which slightly bounces back, and she gets her backpack to throw in her wallet and her phone charger. Her phone vibrates and she literally belly flops on her bed to check her phone.

‘Of course, I cannot wait to come out of here. This zoo will be the end of me. Where do you wanna meet up, Baby girl?’

‘I’m gona check that comic book store in CC, it’s called Brave New Worlds on 55 N 2nd St, heard about it?’

‘I know where that is but never went in. Need a ride?’

‘No, I ‘m good:’) I’ll meet you there.’

‘If you sure… text me when you leave, honey.’ 

Casey puts on her Converses, throws her backpack over her shoulder and goes back to the kitchen to pick up the money her uncle left her for the weekend. The money is usually accompanied by a note that makes Casey grimaces. The note is usually simple such as “Order yourself some food” or abrupt like the abusive macho fat pig he was “The house better be cleaned up when I get back” or even creepy and perverted “I added an extra $20 cause you been a good girl last night”. This time was the last option, and Casey feels sick as she takes the money and put it in her backpack. She scrunches the note and throws it away before pulling her jacket on. She texts Barry, letting him know she’s on her way and walks to the nearest bus stop, her earphones in.

As she approaches “Brave New Worlds”, she removes her earphones and pushes her hair over her left shoulder before she mentally slaps herself for being so self-conscious. The little bell rings as she pushes the door open, she can already feel the warmth of the store surrounding her, she can smell hot coffee and brand-new comic books, putting her at ease. She loves this place, it’s another hideout she enjoys as much as the aquarium, it’s peaceful, warm and quiet. It is also cheap to hang around and read as much comic books as she can. She discovers her love for comic books when she started Middle School, when things would get bad, she would plunge herself in one of those at the school library and borrow some so she could read them at home. It would allow her to escape the real world and she dreamt about being a superhero herself when she was a child, being tough like Batman or having super powers like X-Men so she could defend herself. A she grew up, she stopped dreaming about being a superhero but hoped someone out there would come save her. 

“Case!” She would recognize this voice anywhere and she happily welcome the warm hug from Joseph. As she cuddles with him, Casey meets Barry’s eyes from above Joseph’s shoulder. She gives him a shy smile and waves at him from behind Joseph’s back. Casey cannot read the expression on his face, which unsettles her for a bit. Joseph finally let her go and looks at her with a bright smile. 

“Hey, it’s been awhile, thought you forgot all about me.” He says jokingly, fist bumping her left shoulder gently. 

That’s the other reason why she loves this place so much too. Joseph Dunn is not only an attractive twenty years old who studies computing at the University of Philadelphia, plays football and loves geeky stuffs, he is also very sweet and thoughtful. He is always nice to Casey and maybe a little protective. She is always amazed by his eye’s colours, a deep dark blue, like the deepest ocean, something rare. He is handsome, tall and pretty well made thanks to years of being on the football squad. 

“I’m on senior year now and even though, I have an amazing brain, I cannot score As by magic. - She smiles- Plus, my uncle has been on my case you know, probably scared I’m gonna run off with some boys”. She tries to joke but Joseph’s gaze turns cold, and he loses his smile. 

“You’re doing okay?” He says with a serious tone and a focus stare, as if he is trying to read her. 

Casey throws a quick glance towards Barry, who is still staring at them, curiously. Casey smiles at him again but he doesn’t seem to see her, even though he’s staring without blinking, a frown between his eyebrows. 

“Casey?” Joseph calls her quietly and brushes her arms gently to get her attention back to him. Casey struggles to cut her eye contact with Barry before turning to Joseph.

“I’m fine, don’t worry, J.” She smiles sweetly and her hand comes to squeeze Joseph’s. 

Barry clears his throat and approaches Casey’s side. 

“Hey, baby girl, looking great! The colour choice is on point.” He says with a wink and Casey smiles, Joseph frowns for a second before Casey gives a hug to Barry.

“Barry, this is Joseph and Joseph, this is Barry.” The guys look at each other and nod in a friendly way. Joseph always had that thing that makes people feel at ease straight away and he was a naturally friendly person. 

“Hey, how you doing? -Joseph says- You guys know each other?”

“We met at the zoo, last week. Barry works there and he nicely accepted to give me a ride back home cause I missed the coach.” She says with a grimace. 

“Why am I not surprised? -Joseph teases her with a grin and Casey childishly pulls her tongues out to him, making him giggle- I got what you want by the way, it finally arrived.” 

“No way!” She says excitedly. 

Joseph walks behind the counter and grabs a comic book from under the till before victoriously showing it off to Casey. “Uncanny X-Men” 

“Oh. My. God. – She grabs it carefully to admire it- this is so beautiful.” 

Joseph laughs at that. “Don’t get too emotional now. – he then looks at Barry and pretends to whisper when he says- She cried before.” 

“Shut up.” She says, slapping him gently on the arm.

Barry giggles quietly and comes to stand almost behind Casey, so close she can feel his warmth on her back and arm. Feeling him so close makes her lower abdomen tighten and she tries to focus back on the comic book she is holding.

“So, you’re into those?” Barry asks, looking carefully at the comic book in her hand. She bites her lower lip nervously and nods. 

“Yeah, those are cool. That’s the brand-new X-men, took them years to get a new one out. Apparently, that’s the last one.”

She turns the comic book over and her face falls a little when she sees the price.

“Oh man, I’m gonna have to wait till my next allowance to get it. Do you think you could put it on the side for me?”

“Of course. Don’t you worry, it’ll be waiting for you here. – Joseph puts the comic book back safely where it was- so, what’s your plan for the day, guys?”

“The diner down the street?” Casey asks looking at Barry and she finally realized what is wearing. She is shocked to see him wear dark grey baggy pants, a V-neck white t-shirt that reveals a muscly chest, a dark red zipper sweater on top and a grey beanie. 

“Sure thing, the milkshake there are to die for.” 

Casey turns back to Joseph. “What about you? Working till late?” 

“Yup, I’m here till closing. - he shrugs before turning towards a blonde teenage boy with a floppy haircut, who was holding closely a comic book in his hands. - How can I help you?” 

The teenage boy, not older than fourteen years old, puts down the comic book on the counter.

“I’d like to buy that one, please.” 

“Sure thing. Ah, The killing joke, a classic, nice” Joseph smiles. 

“Well, we gonna head off, you’re getting busy. - Casey says, noticing two other kids, waiting for Joseph to be free. – I’ll see you later.” 

“Sure. I’ll give you a call tonight. The boys and I are throwing a frat party next weekend, you’re welcome to come around. I’ll give you the details on the phone.” He says with a smile then a nod as he goes back to his clients. 

Casey nods and leaves the store, followed closely by Barry. 

“Thank you for coming.” She says as they both walk to the diner down the street. 

“Hm.” He hums with a frown and Casey knows there is something wrong.

They get a booth in a quiet corner of the diner, tables away from other customers and both of them removes their jackets, leaving Barry in his V-neck muscle fit t-shirt and Casey with her sweater dress. They both order milkshakes, mint chocolate chips for Casey and JD whiskey and chocolate for Barry. None of them seem to know what to say and they sit into an uncomfortable silence, Casey wriggles on her seat, being faced to face with him again wasn’t as easy as she expected. She pushes back her lock of hair behind her ear and bites her lower lip nervously. 

“So, how are you doing?” She asks, her voice slightly hoarse. 

He inhales sharply through the nose, and sits back straight, crossing his strong arms on his chest. Casey cannot stop herself from looking at his muscles moving under his skin. She looks back at his eyes with a slightly blush face and she knows she has been caught checking him out. 

“I’m fine. What about yourself?” His voice is deep, and Casey can hear the strong Boston accent.  
Her heart misses a beat when she realises, she isn’t talking to Barry anymore.  
Before Casey can answer his question, the waitress comes back with their milkshakes, asks them if they want something else while chewing her gum loudly and walks away swaying her hips from side to side.  
Casey sips slowly on her milkshake as she looks carefully at Kevin, studying him. 

“I’m not talking to Barry anymore, am I?” She asks quietly. 

He sighs and rubs the back of his head nervously, looking through the big window of the diner, by their side, that gives on the busy street. 

“I’m sorry for taking the light, I hope I’m not ruining your day.” 

“No! Of course, not. I’m glad to see you, Dennis.” She adds quickly. 

He looks back at her, astonished. Probably because she knows who he is, she thinks. 

“Why did Barry leave? I thought he was excited to spend sometimes out today.” 

“He is excited to see you and he is sorry for giving up the light, but I haven’t had sometimes out myself in a while now. I will give him back the light later on, if you don’t mind?” 

Casey nods and smiles at him. 

“That’s fine, but I have to warn you, I probably have a million questions for you today.” She giggles. 

He nods with a serious face. 

“What do you want to know?” 

“How many alters is living in Kevin’s body?” 

He winces slightly at the question. 

“I hope I’m not being rude. – she adds- If you don’t wanna…”

“Three.” He cuts her off. 

She nods, digesting the information as she sips back on her milkshake. 

“Who is the third one?” 

“His name is Hedwig, he’s a child.” 

“And, you mentioned ‘the light’? How does it work exactly?” 

“It’s complicated.” 

Casey nods and looks at her milkshake, quiet. She can tell he doesn’t like talking about it. Is he embarrassed? Is he scared of what she will think or that she might run off? 

The silence comes back, and Dennis observes her as she sips on her milkshake some more. He sighs and rubs his eyes tiredly.

“I’m sorry for my lack of communication, I’m not used to it. If you want Barry, I can give him the light back.” 

“No, it’s okay. I do struggle with social skills as well. I guess we have that in common.” She smiles with a calm, reassuring voice. 

“You do seem to do well, though?” His ton is calm, and he looks back through the window, thinking. 

Casey frowns at that.

“What do you mean by that?” 

“Isn’t that Joseph kid your boyfriend?” 

Casey looks at him, shocked for a second.

“Oh no, no he isn’t. He’s like a brother.” 

As Dennis doesn’t says anything more, Casey feels the need to explain herself for some reason. 

“I met Joseph when I was maybe eleven or twelve. I was placed in foster care and turns out Joseph’s mum is a foster parent, and his parents often takes kids in. So, I lived with Joseph for like six months or so, and we stayed friends. He’s really nice and he’s also my only friend.” 

A moment passes and Casey can almost see the wheels working in his head. 

“Why were you sent to foster care?”

Casey anticipated this would be his next question, and she grimaces at the thought of telling him some parts of her life that she buries as deep as she can. She looks through the window as well, thinking at what to say as Dennis is patiently waiting for an answer. She inhales through her nose and looks back at him with a playful smirk.

“It’s complicated.” She says repeating his exact words. 

It doesn’t seem to amuse him as he still stares at her with a deep frown and cold unblinking eyes. 

“Does he abuse you? - His voice is deep and cold, and Casey can feel the smile and colours of her face fall. - I know the signs.” 

A long silence occurs as they stare at each other and Casey feels more and more distressed as she can feel as Dennis is reading inside her mind and fishes out every information, he needs to confirm his theory. Can he read it by looking at her? Is it actually written all over her face and body language? She breaks eye contact, embarrassed and comes to rest her head in her palm in order to try and hide herself from him and everybody else. God, she sometimes wishes she could be transparent. With a sharp exhale from his nose, Dennis finally looks down at his untouched milkshake. 

“Kevin was abused by his mother and this is why me and the others exist, to protect him.” His voice is hoarse, and Casey can tell it costs him to talk about it, his eyes glued to his milkshake, like the words are difficult almost painful to come out of his mouth. 

“People don’t believe we exist, and that’s why I don’t like mentioning it, leave alone explaining it. – He adds and finally looks back at her, meeting her focussed eyes. He can tell she is collecting all the information she can. - People don’t understand it and are afraid of it. My social life is nearly non-existent and I…we are glad you didn’t run away, and we hope you believe us.” 

The last part almost sounded like a question.

“I do. -She breaths- When you say Kevin was abused…what kind of abuse are we talking about?” 

Casey can tell he’s thinking to answer, overthinking it, he sits up back straight again, both noticing at that moment how they both leaned into each other as they talked. He crosses his arms over his chest in a defensive position and he inhales sharply through his nose, looking back at her with a frown. 

“It’s okay. You don’t like your milkshake?” She asks nodding towards it, and he seems to appreciate the change of topic. 

“Diners are rarely hygienic.” 

“Come on, give it a try. For me.” She says, fluttering her eyelashes with a playful smile. 

He sighs and after a few seconds, he finally grabs the plastic straw carefully, resigned before sipping on it a little bit.

“So?” 

“That’s not bad.” 

She rolls her eyes exaggeratedly. 

“God and you say I am the brat.” 

He giggles at that before waving at the waitress. 

“You’re leaving?” Casey asks with a small voice, her smile disappearing. 

“We are, if you want still want to spend the day with us, of course?” 

The waitress comes to their table, still chewing her gum loudly, looking absently through the window with an unfazed attitude as she gives the check to Dennis who gets his wallet out to get a few bills out. Casey reaches to her backpack and tries to give Dennis some money, but he shakes his head ‘no’ and the waitress nods thankfully when he gives her the amount requested. As the waitress walks away, Casey hands the $10 bill to him, insisting but he pushes her hand away. 

“You didn’t have to pay.” 

“It’s fine, I…I’m happy to be out with you.” 

She sighs, putting the money away. “Okay. Where next then?” 

“Barry wants to go shopping. – He cringes. – He tends to spend way too much, please don’t let him go too overboard. I do have to give him some time in the light.” 

Casey laughs quietly as they walk out of the diner and toward his car.

“Okay, I’ll try to prevent him from maxing the card.” 

She smiles playfully as they get into his car. As soon as he turns the ignition on, Blue Monday 88 by New Order starts blaring loudly in the habitat, and he turns the volume down. 

“God, why does he have to put the volume so high.” He signs, annoyed. 

“That’s a cool song. And cool songs have to be listened super loud. -He rolls his eyes at that but doesn’t add anything. – So, how does it work? Are you gonna ask Barry to come around or…?” 

He gives her a severe look.

“What? You’re shy…Do you want me to cover my eyes?” She playfully covers her eyes with her right hand, slowly opening two fingers so she can peak at him from her left eye.

She laughs at the incredibility on his face and he shakes his head disapprovingly, but Casey can see an amused smile on his lips. He puts his seatbelt on and throw an arm on the back of her seat to get the car out of its parking spot. Casey blushes a little at how close he is right now, and she takes the opportunity to study him. He laughs a genuine laugh as he turns his head back to the road. 

“Stop staring at me like that.” He has a playful smile on his lips and gives her a glance before turning back again to the road. 

“I’m just curious to see the transition. Why are you still here?” 

He sighs and laughs at the same time.

“I’m gonna start thinking you prefer Barry over me.” Casey knew they were joking but something in the way he said it, makes her heart tighten a little. The slight sadness and resolution in his voice tells Casey he knew other people love Barry and probably run away from him. Barry is the sociable, friendly and lovable one whereas Dennis only comes out to work hard and protect them.

“I like you both.” 

He nods but doesn’t say anything for a long time. 

“Barry will definitely come out as soon as we get to the mall. – He says almost reassuringly. -Let me stay with you for a bit more.”


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

“Okay, I’m dead. – Casey says as she slumps in a chair in the food court of the mall. – I knew you were a shopping enthusiast, but boy, you can shop.” 

She rests her head on the back of the chair, looking at the ceiling, exhausted. Barry giggles and sits down too, surrounded by a dozen of bags of shopping from different brands, sipping on a green looking smoothie. She guesses she failed at stopping Barry from going overboard. Hopefully, Dennis won’t be mad. 

“And I thought every girl loved shopping” He teases with a smile.

“That’s a common mistake actually.” Casey says back as she lifts her head up to look at him. 

“I can’t believe I had to actually force you to try some stuffs.” 

“And I can’t believe you bought me that dress.” 

“Oh, Baby Girl, I had to, enough with the oversized clothes already. It fitted you perfectly, you were like an eleven out of ten.”

She laughs and sits back up, sipping on her own red smoothie. 

“There is no way I’m wearing that outside…Actually anywhere.” She grimaces when she imagines her uncle finding out she possesses that red tight dress with long sleeves that Barry had bought her. 

Casey was thankful the dress covers her arms despite being really tight and short. She managed to hide her scars and burning marks from Barry, not without great efforts, as she had to run away every time he picked some small crop tops or little dresses for her to try on.

“What about that frat party your friend Joseph said he would invite you to? It’s perfect for it! Might even meet someone, who knows” He says with a playful tone and a wink. 

“Oh no, frat boys are actually terrible people. – They both laugh a quiet laugh and when she looks up from her smoothie cup in her hands, she notices how close they are again, they are both leaning in, making their position and conversation somewhat intimate. She also notices how bright and shiny Barry’s eyes are as he looks deep in her own eyes. -I’ve met Joseph’s friends and trust me, the way they talk about girls, you don’t wanna be one of them.” 

“What? They talk about girls in front of you? Surely, it’s against some kind of code.” They both giggles.

“Oh yeah, they sure do. They almost consider me one of them. Must be the oversized clothing. -She jokes and sits back against the back of the chair, studying the plastic cup f her smoothie in her hands. – Plus, I’m not into those football super stars kinda guy.”

“Really? I thought all the girls were into those guys. Back in high school, all the girls would fight over Tate Martell, the QB of the team. I remember, that cheerleader got caught for feeding him homemade cupcake that she loaded up with Valium so she could try and make out with him.” 

“What? No way, you’re making this up.” She laughs.

“I swear to god.” He laughs too.

“To be fair, there are some nutcases in my school too. But no, those guys aren’t my type.”

“So, what’s your type?”

Casey can tell he let that escape and he, now, seems to regret it. At first, she is struck by the question, not because he asked but because she doesn’t know what to answer. Nobody has ever asked her that and she never thought about it herself. She knew that having a boyfriend would be hard as long as her uncle was around. Not only John would make things end as soon as he’d know but he would turn the situation into something vile and wrong. Also, who would want her? She is so broken and abnormal now. It’s not that men disgusted her, but she hasn’t felt attracted to anyone sexually ever. Sometimes she wonders if her uncle’s actions didn’t make her asexual. She stays quiet for a while, thinking. 

“Me and my big mouth, don’t worry, honey.” He brushes off with his hand. 

“I’m not sure what’s my type. I never really thought about it. I guess I’d like someone nice, patient and that likes me. – she sighs, hiding her eyes with her right hand. – That sounds lame. What’s yours?”

“Hum…Someone with a good sense of fashion, of course, and someone that enjoys spending their evening binging series on Netflix and eating take away.” 

They both giggles.

“That, right there, is a good one. You don’t mind if I steal it from you and put it in my list.” Casey says with a smile before checking the time on her phone. 

Barry seems to catch it and worry washes over his face. 

“Is it late? I don’t see the time pass when I shop. Do you need to be back home at a specific time?”

“It’s already six thirty but don’t worry. My uncle is actually away for the weekend. He goes out of town two weekends a month with his friends on a hunting trip. He usually comes back on Sunday evening. Thank god for that.” 

“Wait, he leaves you alone all weekend, are you safe at home by yourself?”

“Come on, I’m not twelve anymore, I can take care of myself. Believe me, those weekends are a real breather for me. I get to do everything I want, like catching up with Joseph and now I can hang out with you.”

“Okay, baby, if you say so. – He sighs. - Have you got something to eat for tonight?”

She rolls her eyes at his worry. 

“You’re worse than a mum. – She laughs. – John always leaves me some money. I guess I’ll just order something, but…I don’t really feel like going home yet, if that’s okay? The less time I spend there, the better.” 

He stays silent for a while, looking at her and Casey can tell he is overthinking what to say next, he bites his lower lip and plays with the straw of his smoothie. Is he nervous? 

“Do you remember when I told you that Dennis and I share the light sometimes, especially at work?”

Casey frowns, not knowing where this was going. 

“Yeah, I do.”

“Well, I know that Dennis told you about Kevin’s mother abusing him and I also know that Dennis is convinced you…you’re not in a good place with your uncle. -He finishes his sentence quickly as if he doesn’t want to dwell on the words. -I mean, I don’t want to overstep or anything but is everything okay at home?” 

A sinking feeling fills Casey’s stomach and she can feel the shame burning her face. She opens her mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. Dennis knew without needing to hear an answer from her but now that Barry is asking for confirmation, she feels mortified.

“What kind of abuse Kevin’s mother did to him?” She knows she already asked that to Dennis, but she couldn’t get an answer from him.

“All sorts.” He whispers.

“All sorts- She whispers back, more for herself. – Then, I guess, I know what all sorts is.” 

As she looks back at him, she knows she is talking in riddles, but he seems to know how to read between the lines as she can see his jaw lock itself angrily as he looks away from her. He rubs his eyes and exhales sharply through his nose.

“Okay. – He says, still in a whisper as he looks back at her- Still feel like doing some catching up on Stranger Things? I actually never watched it.”

“Seriously? You’re allowing me to hang out at your place?” She says, surprise written on her face, but she is sporting an excited grin.  
“Jeez, I hope Dennis wasn’t too rude last time. I know he can be a little bit abrupt sometimes, but he doesn’t mean it.” 

He says, standing up and picking up all of his shopping bags.

The walk back to the car is easy and fun as Barry seems to find his good mood back. During the drive to his place, they talk about Stranger Things and argue about what to order for a take away. Despite their rather dark conversation at the mall, she is happy to stay away from John’s house for longer. After parking the car and walking through the Staffs Entrance, they walk through the same underground, gloomy looking corridor before getting to his apartments. 

“This time I’ll give you a proper tour, Baby Girl.” Barry says excited, making Casey smiles. 

Every time they walk into a new room, Barry throws his arms around showing the room and screaming ‘TA DAA’ excitedly. She already knew the kitchen and living room and Barry shows her the bathroom, which is as expected very neat, this is a simple white and grey room with a red fluffy mat in front of the shower, she notices the three toothbrushes near the sink but doesn’t comment about it. He then shows her the bedroom, which is simple and neat, the walls are white, and the floor is made of a grey basic carpet that isn’t fluffy but rather rough, there is a modern wood imitation wardrobe and drawers and a double bed with grey beddings and an old medium sized teddy bear resting in the middle. There are two night-tables on each side of the bed, one with a modern light on it and the other one with a pile of books. A smirk forms on Casey’s lips as soon as she spots the bear. She points it out with her index without saying anything, as she looks at Barry. He laughs and brushes it off with a wave from his hand.

“Don’t even start.” He jokingly threatens. 

Casey puts her hands up in peace. “I didn’t say anything.”

Barry sighs amused knowing full well she won’t let go. He walks pass her and she follows closely. Once in front of the last door of the corridor, he stops in front of it, almost theatrically.

“And that’s where things get a little bit messy.” 

As soon as he opens the door, Casey doesn’t know where to look first. The room is erratic, she can barely make the colours of the room up. In one corner, there is a desk with his laptop resting on it, surrounded by papers and books of all sorts, there is pictures and fashion drawings stuck to the walls all around the area. There are two racks of clothes against the wall, filled with dresses, jackets and a pink fur coat. Drawings, papers, magazines, pencils, paints, brushes, pastels and even an old Starbuck’s cup are spread all over the floor near the desk and Casey guesses this might be Barry’s side of the room. When she looks at the opposite side, she already knows, it must be Dennis’s side. His side is neat and tidy, there is a yoga mat on the floor with different size weights, a blue elastic band and a roller. Casey turns around on her feet and in another corner of the room, near the door, she guesses it might be Hedwig’s room. Even though, she hasn’t met him yet, she knows he’s a child, according to Dennis, and the little area seems to be the one of an elementary school child. There is a white coffee table against the wall where a colourful aquarium rests on it, next to it, there is a CD player. In front of the table, there is a cream coloured fluffy carpet, with a few animal plushies on it and finally, there are kid’s drawings on the wall. 

“Wow.” She says, as she looks back at him. She can tell that he has been looking at her for a while, trying to read her expression. Casey can tell he’s nervous, almost afraid that she will run away, get scared or maybe even laugh. 

“I know. That’s a little bit erratic. -He says as he looks around the room. – That’s the only room that Dennis allows us to get messy. What do you think?” 

“It’s funny, you know, cause even though I haven’t known all four of you for a long time and I didn’t even meet Kevin or Hedwig yet, but I already know which areas belongs to whom. I have to say though, I’m confused, where is Kevin’s area?” 

Barry sighs, and Casey can see the sadness washing over his face for a second or two.

“Kevin doesn’t come into the light often enough, I guess. But we did keep all his things, of course.” 

“When was the last time he came into the light?” She asks, shuffling on her feet a little. 

“About a year ago.” 

“That long, uh…And can he share the light like you do with Dennis?”

Barry sighs and bites his lips and Casey can tell he isn’t comfortable with the conversation.

“He can’t actually. It’s like he’s asleep for the moment. – He goes to grab the pink fluffy coat and show it off to Casey. – Let’s talk about something a little less depressing, what do you think? I’ve made it.” 

Casey wishes she could carry on questioning him but instead, let him escape the subject.

“I love it! That looks so fluffy and warm. Did you make all those clothes? Why don’t you sell them? They’re unique pieces.” 

“I don’t know, you think people would buy them?”

“I would. You could become one of those cool and edgy designers that sell a jacket to Kanye West for like a thousand bucks and then everyone would want to buy your stuffs.” 

“Shut up – He says with a playful smile as he puts back the coat, and goes to take his laptop- Come on, let’s go order some food, you said pizza, right?”

“Chinese! Don’t try to trick me again.” 

Barry has a quiet laugh as they walk to the living room. Barry orders some Chinese food for both of them online and when Casey tries to reach for her wallet in her backpack, Barry says “Nope, don’t even think about it” and she gives up, knowing she won’t win. She reaches for the remote and excitedly puts Netflix on. Once the take away arrives, they’re already deep into the first episode of Stranger Things. They don’t seem to notice the time goes by and as soon as one episode ends, they look at each other saying “Another one”, and it’s only when Casey’s phone ring that she realised they’re on episode five and it’s eleven p.m. 

Anxiety and stress washes over her as she picks up her phone, only to relax when she notices Joseph’s name on her screen. Barry pauses the episode and picks up the boxes from the take away to throw them away in the kitchen, leaving the living room’s door open. 

‘Hey, what’s up? How was work?’ She asks.

‘Nothing much…just on my laptop.’ She risks a glance at Barry who came back in the living room, he leans on the door frame, strong muscly arms crossed over his chest, glasses on and he’s sporting a severe cold look with a frown. Dennis. He’s staring at her without blinking and for a second, she feels very small and like she is intruding. Didn’t he know she was there? She can’t exactly read his expression and she hum absently at her phone conversation. Something makes her jump and she cut the eye contact with Dennis. 

‘What about my uncle though? He’ll never let me go to a party…What? Have you lost your mind? He’ll never allow that, and you’re a guy and a Dunn, so he hates you even more than any other guys.’ 

She hums and exhales sharply through her nose a few times, throwing a few ‘okays’ here and there during their conversation. 

‘Okay, that could work, I’ll try but if he kills me, that’s on you.’ She looks back at Dennis who’s still studying her, and she can tell he’s taking all the information he can from her phone call. ‘I’m joking’ She laughs, and she doesn’t know if she said it for Joseph or for Dennis. 

Once the phone call is over, she hangs up and stands up, to feel less dominated by the cold and calculating stare of Dennis. 

“Dennis. Everything okay? Barry and I were watching some Netflix.” She doesn’t recognize her own voice, so small and quiet like she would be scared. 

An awkward silence fills up the room and Casey stay still, as they both look at each other from across the room. He finally sighs and rubs the back of his head, before walking towards her, and he stops mere centimetres away from her. 

“Don’t joke about that.” His ton was cold.

Casey frowns for a second before realising he’s talking about her saying her uncle would kill her.

“Yeah, it was a stupid joke.” She shrugs her shoulder, nonchalantly, pretending not to be fazed by the situation. 

His eyes roam over her body and he sighs again, turning away from her while rubbing the back of head, nervously. 

“Why did you lie to your friend?” As he turns back to her.

“What? When?” 

“You didn’t tell him that you were with me, at my place.”

“He can be protective, and he just met you today, I didn’t want to hear a whole speech about it.” She answers back quickly.

She could feel the tension in the room, and she starts to feel agitated. 

“You know I can be unstable, it’s important for someone to know where you are, just in case.” His deep neutral voice was low, and Casey could hear the pain in his voice. 

Casey’s mouth falls open and she frowns, confused. 

“What do you mean? In case of what?”

“I could become violent. I’m not used to have someone around me.” 

“I’m not scared of you, Dennis. You understand me and I like spending time with you, don’t you?” 

“Of course, I do. -He sighs. – I’m just scared of what could happen to you if I lose it.” 

Casey inhales and exhales deeply before walking towards him and resting her hand gently on his muscly and veiny forearm. He tenses and stiffen at the contact.

“Easy” He says quietly. 

She keeps her hand on his forearm and gently caresses it with her thumb. 

“Dennis, it’s okay, you won’t hurt me, I know that. – Her voice is low and measured and they both looks at her hand on his arm, like mesmerized. But then, a playful smile forms on her lips and she can’t stop herself from using humour to escape situations she doesn’t feel comfortable in.- I get it, you’re not ready for sleeps over, yet. I’m gonna go home.” 

She steps away to get her backpack and get her things together.  
“No- He says as he puts his hand softly on hers to stop her movement. - That’s not what I meant, you can stay as long as you want.” 

He looks at her with pleading eyes, and she can read embarrassment and confusion all over him, like he doesn’t know what he wants or what he should do. 

“Hey, it’s late anyway, I have to go home.” She says in a reassuring voice.

He sighs, embarrassed and probably mad at himself.

“What about your uncle?” 

“My uncle’s away for the weekend.” 

“Will you be safe by yourself?”

“Yes, I’m a big girl. – She says with a playful tone but sighs when she still sees worry all over his face, his frowns deep between his eyebrows – I’ll be fine, D.” The nickname surprises them both but she plays it cool as she leans in, tip toe and kisses him softly on the cheek, at the commissure of the lips. 

They both freeze. Shit. What kind of kiss was that? Why did she do that? Casey is mortified and she feels her cheeks burning with embarrassment as he grabs her gently, putting his hands on each sides of her arms to push her away slowly, back on her feet. They stare at each other in silence and she can tell he’s mortified too.

“Casey.” His voice is hoarse, and his tone sounds somewhat exasperate, but she takes it as a warning.

Now, that she allows herself to breath, she can feel her lower abdomen tighten and her heartbeat fasten. She wants to kiss him again, she realises. Without caring about his slight rejection and warning, she leans in again, tip toeing and tries to kiss him on the lips this time. He grabs her back by the arms again and holds her at distance, preventing her from kissing him again. 

“Casey. What are you doing?”

“I don’t know. I want to.” 

“I’m twice your age, Casey. We can’t be doing this.”

“Well, there is nothing I can do about that.” She shrugs as she goes to put her backpack on.

He watches her curiously and sighs when she looks at him, waiting. 

“I’m giving you a ride.” He finally says, picking up his car key. They walk in silence to his car, which isn’t an uncomfortable silence, they both lost in their thoughts and the ride back to her house is equally quiet. 

Finally, he parks in front of her uncle’s house for once and he glances at it curiously a few times, through his window. He stops the engine but leave the heating running and keeps the head lights on and the familiarity of the situation hits Casey’s mind. He inhales and exhales sharply through his nose. 

“Casey.” 

“Hum?” 

“You can’t do this again, I’m serious.” 

“Is it only because of the age gap that you don’t want that?” She asks after sometimes.

“The age difference is a huge part of it, yes.”

“And what’s the other reason? Is it because you…you don’t like me like that?” 

“What? No! I like you, you know that.” He says slightly louder as he looks at her, shocked that she could feel unwanted. 

“Then, what is it? You know I don’t care about your DID, I like Barry too.”

Dennis doesn’t say anything for a long time, staring blankly outside. 

“Say something.” Her voice, not above the whisper.

She waits but nothing comes and after sometimes, she sighs angrily and picks up her backpack, reaches for the door, about to leave when she feels a strong grip on her wrist, keeping her in the habitat of the car. She looks back at him and he doesn’t look at her when he starts talking. His voice low, making the tension palpable and the atmosphere feels suffocating. 

“A few years ago, I…I fell in love… like madly in love. She was younger, and things were working great until she learnt Kevin had DID. Back then, I tried to hide it because I didn’t want to scare her away but obviously this is out of my control…Barry would play the part and pretends to be me but one day, Hedwig popped up and she freaked out. She got scared and she didn’t even believe we existed, told me I was crazy, that DID was bullshit and it got me mad. She broke up with me…I was hurting pretty bad and I couldn’t let go. -He stops for a moment, sighing and rubbing the back of his head. -Things escalated from there and it got bad, so bad she…obtained a restriction order against me.”

The silence falls in the car and Casey isn’t brave enough to even breathe. A million things come to her mind, but she doesn’t know what to say or what to do. She wants to be mad, she feels mad. What was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she find a nice, normal guy for once? Why did she have to feel at peace with someone that could be potentially bad for her? Hasn’t she learned enough with John? Could it be that she was doomed, she attracted predators, was it due to years of abuse by her uncle? 

He doesn’t look at her, and she guesses he’s too embarrassed. She doesn’t know if she should feel mad or scared, but she can’t stop herself from feeling sorry for him.

“What exactly are you scared of, here? That I’m going to hurt you or that you might hurt me?” She asks, her tone severe, an angry frown between her eyebrows.

He sighs and looks out his window to look at her uncle’s house.

“Both.” 

Casey can tell she can’t lose it and get angry as he might stop answering, like a hurt wild animal, she had to be careful and approach him slowly. 

“When you say, ‘things got bad’, what do you mean exactly? Did you hurt her physically?”

“No! -His voice is hoarse by emotion and when he turns to her, Casey can see his eyes are red and shiny. -I would never lay a hand on her or on you.”

Casey swallows as she can feel her throat tighten. 

“Okay. -She whispers and nods slowly, to calm him down. -Did you try to lock her up?” She adds with a playful smile.

“It’s not funny, Casey.”

“What? You did?” She asks loudly, surprised all over her face. 

“No! I stalked her. -He turns to look at her and Casey’s mouth falls open. -I don’t even remember how it started, I wasn’t aware that I crossed the line. She wouldn’t answer my calls or texts, so I tried to meet her where she was working, at hers or anywhere I could try. I managed to find her, but I was never brave enough to go and talk to her, so I followed her for quite sometimes until I gathered the courage to talk to her. She was so scared of me…I tried to tell her that I loved her and that I was in therapy, that I would get better but she wouldn’t listen, she was gonna call the cops, so I left.”

“Is that it? She got a restraining order for that?”

He sighs.

“I tried again…a few nights later. I went to see her at her apartment, but she was with her new boyfriend, I lost it and attacked him. That’s when she got a restraining order. Barry took control of the light for quite sometimes and made us move here in Philly.”  
They both stay quiet for a while, Casey digesting all the information he gave her. 

“What am I supposed to do with this, now?” Casey sighs.

“I wanted to come clean to you, so you know who you’re dealing with. If…If you don’t want to see me anymore, I’ll understand.” 

Casey sighs heavily and turns towards Dennis, anger washes over her.

“You’re a fucking idiot, you know that?” She spits angrily, as she reaches for her cigarette pack in her backpack. 

“What?” He asks, shocked. He’s not sure he ever heard her swear before. 

She gets a cigarette out and lighten it, she moves away from him as he tries to take the cigarette from her. 

“Don’t smoke in my car.” 

“Don’t touch me.” She says softly, calming down as she inhales and exhales the smoke slowly, now looking outside through the windscreen. He backs away at that. 

“Casey. -He says in a breath, exasperate. – I don’t like to see you smoke, that’s not good for you.” 

“No offence but I’m nothing like your ex-girlfriend. She might have been younger but I’m not stupid and I’m not scared of you. -She takes another drag of her cigarette before throwing it away by her window. The cigarette is only half way finished and Dennis wonders if she throws it away because he said he didn’t like it. -Your ex-girlfriend sounds like a bitch, and if I’m being completely honest, she made you a favour by getting that restraining order, trust me, you’re better off.” 

Her speech seems to hit him like a train as he looks at her, shocked, mouth falling open. It’s like he just realised for the first time, the blame could be hers. 

“Really? You…you’re okay with this?” Casey can hear the emotion in his voice.

“I wouldn’t say that it is completely fine what you did, but I know evil and that’s not you. -She sighs. -Look, I like you and even though, I have no experience with that kind of things, I know that I feel good when I’m with you, almost at peace. I guess Kevin and I might have had the same kind of childhood so with you, I don’t have to pretend or try hard. Every day, I have to deal with so much shit, but I have to keep it quiet and try to be fine and put on a strong, normal front and this is…exhausting. I don’t feel the need to do that when I’m around you. You might be messed up, but so I am.” 

A long pause occurs where none of them says anything, both looking through the windscreen. 

“Okay.” He finally says, his voice low.

“Okay?” She asks softly, confusion written on her face. 

Dennis doesn’t answer but instead looks again at her uncle’s grim looking house for a minute. The house is plunged in darkness, even though it’s night time outside and therefore dark, he can see how the house and garden are run down, the trash spread over the weeds, the front door looks old and unsecured. He inhales sharply and close his eyes tight, he can’t let her in there by herself, it would feel wrong to drive off, imagining her in that cold, dark house on her own.

“When is your uncle coming back home?” He finally asks, confusing Casey even more. 

“He always comes back from his hunting trips, on Sundays evening.”

“Are you hundred per cent sure? Is it safe for you to be away? What if he comes back tomorrow morning?”

“I mean, anything could happen, I can’t be a hundred per cent sure about it, but I’ve been living with him since I was seven and it never happened before. They usually get wasted on the Saturday night and hunt again the next day and eat whatever they hunted at dinner. He usually comes back by eight or nine. Why?”

He nods.

“Go get whatever you need for the night, I’ll take the sofa, you can have my bed.” 

“Seriously?” She asks loudly, not believing this was happening.

“Yeah, I can’t leave you here.”

Casey grabs her backpack and open the door of the car, jumping out of it, excited. 

“I’ll be five minutes! Don’t move!” She doesn’t wait for an answer and shuts the door of the car almost violently as she runs to the porch of the house and unlock the front door, that she leaves open as she runs upstairs to pick up her PJs, toothbrush, hairbrush, makeup remover, an oversized sweater, trackies, and her laptop that she throws in her backpack. 

She looks around at her bedroom, scanning it for something she could have forgotten but when she can’t think of anything she might need, she gets out of her bedroom and shuts the door. She goes to check that her uncle’s bedroom is empty like it should be, once satisfied she goes down and lock the front door before joining Dennis back in the car, a little bit out of breath. 

“Let’s get out of here.” He says as he starts the engine again and drives off.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

“Would you like the first shower?” Dennis asks with his usual strong Boston accent, once they got back at his apartments. 

The drive back to the zoo has been quiet and peaceful, both lost in their thoughts, Casey admiring the lights of the city at night as Dennis glanced between her and the road. It was pitch black outside and inside the car, the heating was on at almost full power making the habitat warm and cosy, which enveloped both in a comfortable and secure feeling. Casey was feeling safe and happy and she couldn’t comprehend how this maintenance guy had become so important for her and her well-being in such little time. She didn’t believe in love at first sight and she even struggle to believe in love at all, wasn’t it something people say to get laid? To get what they want? To get attention? Now, she doesn’t even know what love is and she certainly didn’t think that she was in love with Dennis or Barry, but it felt right to be with him, it felt exciting, safe, comfortable and peaceful, it was like they’ve clicked. Yeah, that’s right, they clicked, like two puzzle pieces made out of the same puzzle.  
They only seem to realise what is going on, what it implies for Casey to be back at his place at night, once they cross the front door and Dennis locks it behind him. They both stand quietly in his dark kitchen, the silence enveloping them. 

“Yeah, if you don’t mind.” She answers quietly.

He follows her to the bathroom and shows her how to use the shower, which products there is for her to shampoo her hair and wash her body, and he even goes to his bedroom to get a fresh towel for her to use. She thanks him, grabbing the dry and clean towel, looking at him as he awkwardly stands there, at the door of the bathroom. They both looks at each other and Casey waits for him to add something, which never comes so she shyly says ‘okay, I got it’ and turns toward her backpack to get her PJs out.  
He clears his throat and turns away.

“Hum…okay, just shout if you need anything.” He says as he shuts the door after she agrees.

Casey allows herself to breath and relax a little. She decides not to wash her hair as she washed them in the morning, so she brushes them and puts them up in a bun. She removes her makeup, brushes her teeth and gets inside the shower, using the shower gel he gave her. She dries up with her towel, after her shower and puts her jammies on, a large plain white T-shirt, probably an XL and a light blue cotton PJ pants with little white clouds on it. Once, she is satisfied she comes out looking for Dennis, who’s changing the beddings of his bed. He neatly pulls on the corners of each side to make sure there isn’t any folds on the bed. 

“Hey, I’m done. -She says as she leaves her backpack in the bedroom, walking towards him. -I don’t mind taking the sofa, you know.” 

“You’re the guest, hence you get the bed.” He says with a corner smile. 

“Can we watch something or is it lights out?”

Dennis checks his watch and grimaces slightly at the time, it’s past midnight. He doesn’t work tomorrow as he got the whole week-end off and he doesn’t want to disappoint her.

“It’s late already -He can already see her face fall off, disappointed, so he adds quickly- But we could watch something I guess, I don’t watch much Netflix or TV. You’ll have to show me what’s good.” 

Casey shuffles around excited. 

“Cool! We could start another series, there is that new series called ‘The umbrella academy’ and everyone says it’s pretty good.” 

“That’s fine by me. I’m gonna grab a shower first and join you up.” 

She grabs her phone and charger and goes to the living room to puts the TV on. She is surfing channels when Dennis comes back from his shower, wearing a black cotton tracksuit bottom and a tight black t-shirt, and Casey cannot stop herself from checking him out. His muscly and veiny arms look pump and Casey can see his strong chest filling up his t-shirt. He grabs two small bottles of water from the fridge and throws one at Casey who manages to catch it, silently thanking god for not humiliating herself. He sits down on the sofa, and leaves a good arm length space between them, he puts on his glasses staring at the screen as she puts on Netflix. 

As she looks for ‘The umbrella academy’ on Netflix, she can feel his nervousness coming back.

“Can I ask you a question? -He asks with his deep neutral voice and Casey nods. -Obviously, I know this is none of my business but…what was that plan Joseph talked to you about, when you were on the phone? When you said your uncle might kill you.” 

“It’s about that frat party next Saturday. He wanted me to sneak out or to say that I’m going to a sleepover or something, but those won’t work for sure, I mean he would catch me if I try to leave in the middle of the night or even in the morning and it would end up pretty badly, and he knows I don’t have any friends so…Joseph came up with something else though, he wants me to say that I’ve been invited to stay at his parent’s place to celebrate his birthday and also because his mom, Audrey, wants to have me back for the week-end. Which could work, even though uncle John hates the Dunn’s family.” 

“Why does he hate them? Because they took you in?”

“Yeah, partly. I think he’s scared of them too because they know the things he’s done to me and that they did try to take me away from him, they fought for months to remove his custody over me at the court. However, he’s my only family left alive, so the judge ignored them, and all the cases built against my uncle and gave me back. Even though, I had to go back to live with my uncle, the Dunn’s never gave up on me and always check on me, making it harder for my uncle to abuse me, I guess. Things did get better since the Dunn’s keep an eye on me.” 

Dennis nods quietly, replacing his glasses nervously. 

“I’m glad you’ve got the Dunn’s, they sound like good people.” 

“They are.” 

Dennis doesn’t push the subject any further, feeling as Casey doesn’t seem too keen on talking about it. As she flicks through the different programs, Casey stops and turns towards Dennis. 

“Do you still see a therapist?” 

Dennis’s eyes widened with surprise. 

“Yes, I’m seeing a psychiatrist. I’ve already mentioned you to her, if this…this thing carries on, you might have to meet her.” 

“This thing, uh?” Casey says as she playfully raises her eyebrows. 

“Casey.” Dennis says as a warning, but Casey heard his quiet laugh and he struggles not to smile. 

“What? You like me, you can’t fight it.” She says with a grin.

“You’re awfully confident right now.” 

“Really? So, you wouldn’t be upset if I kiss one of the boys at Joseph’s frat bash on Saturday?”

She knows this is a ridiculous threat and she mentally slaps herself for sounding so childish and immature, but she can’t resist to try and push him. He shakes his head disapprovingly, rubbing the back of his head. 

“No, I wouldn’t. You’re young and you should be able to have fun and meet someone your age.” 

Casey frowns at that, she doesn’t know if he’s saying the truth or not but deep down, she feels like she can make him crack, and make him swallow his little moral speech. She carefully approaches him on the sofa, playfully, almost forcing Dennis to retreat in the corner of the sofa.

“What if he’s older? Like a twenty-five years old, a player who doesn’t have any good intentions towards me. -She slides a hand on his leg, caressing it slowly up and down, making him stiff. Dennis seems to forget how to breath as he stares at her hand. -He probably would be tall and well-made. He would probably trap me against a wall, upstairs, caressing my naked leg like this, pushing my skirt up little by little.” 

Casey doesn’t recognize herself and she’s a little shock by what she’s doing. Dennis seems out of breath and catches her hand as she tried to get higher. 

“Casey. No.” He says firmly, as he removes her hand from him.

Casey is slightly disappointed by his rejection, but she expected it. 

“What if I enjoy it?” She says quietly, staring at him, almost viciously. 

The tension is thick in the room and both of them seem to hold their breath, the room is plunged in darkness with only the light emitted by the television reflecting on them. 

“What if I want him to kiss me and touch me? Me wearing that tight skin red dress Barry got me, so tight and short… against the wall, drunk and that older, cocky football player kissing me and touching me…Can you picture it?”

“Yeah, I can.” His voice is low and hoarse.

“Admit it, it would upset you.”

He exhales sharply through his nose and closes his eyes for a second.

“Yes, it would” He finally admits, defeated.

Casey catches him looking at her lips and she naturally leans in to kiss him. At the beginning, she can feel him hesitate like he’s about to push her away again, but he doesn’t and relax. The kiss is slow and simple, chaste but then Dennis cups her face with his hands and opens his mouth, confusing and scaring Casey. This is her first kiss and even though she watched a hundred of kisses on movies and TV, she’s not too sure how to do that. She backs away a little, looking at him.

“You okay?” He asks, voice low.

“Yeah, sorry.” She bites her lower lip and hesitates for a second.

“You want to stop?” He frowns, slightly confused.

“No! I’m just…that’s my first kiss.” She says quickly, feeling her cheeks burning out of embarrassment. 

“Really?” He asks as he backs away, looking at her. 

She nods.

“You sure you want your first kiss to be me?” 

“Jeez- She rolls her eyes. – No, I don’t, clearly.” She bursts frustrated, making him giggle. 

“Come here.” He says as he brings her back to him closely, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear, and cupping her face again.

Their breath mixes up as their noses touch each other’s and he slowly kisses her, kissing her top lip and then her lower lip, he caresses her lips with his tongue softly and Casey mimics him. As she opens her mouth slightly, Dennis takes the opportunity to slide his tongue in her mouth and Casey moans out of surprise. As they separate, Dennis rests his forehead on hers, playfully brushing his nose on hers.

“How was that?” 

“Decent.” She says playfully.

“Decent? -He laughs. -Well, maybe you should go and kiss some of those sweaty football players if you’re not satisfied.” He says, pretending to be vexed as he pushes her away softly. 

Casey laughs and slaps him playfully on the arm. 

“It was great. Shut up.” 

Feeling confident, she climbs on his laps, surprising him. She looks at him before cupping his face like he did to her and plunges on his lips, a bit clumsily. They kiss again and Casey gets closer and closer to him, only to find herself sat on his crotch. She can feel him hard and swollen in his trackies and she mischievously and curiously grinds on him, making him moan in his throat. Casey stops kissing him to get a good look at him and Dennis seems in pain, frowning and out of breath. Casey looks down at his swollen bulge and she caresses it with her hand on top of his trackies, making him moan again. Casey can feel her lower abdomen tighten every time he makes that masculine sound, such a deep moan, close to the groan. She can feel her own panties getting wet and sticky as she caresses him, up and down, her cheeks red. 

She goes to caress his abs and tries to get inside his trackies but before she could reach, he grabs her hand firmly. 

“Casey, don’t.”

“Why?” She said disappointed. 

“We’ve got time. -He says quietly, as he rubs her back. – It can wait until you’re sure you want this.” 

“I’m sure.” She says as she tried to touch him again, but he grabs her once more. 

“Casey, please. I’m trying to be good.” 

Defeated, she let a sigh escape her and she sits down next to him. 

“Fine.” She puts the first episode on but they both struggle to focus as they both dwell on the last twenty minutes.

At the end of the episode, Dennis call it a night and its almost two in the morning. Casey tries to convince him to sleep with her in bed but Dennis refuses, sending her on her way to bed. As she lays down in bed, in his bed, she can’t fall asleep and she keeps turning over and over again, replaying their first kiss in her head. After twenty minutes or so, she grabs his teddy bear and plays with it a little. The bear looks old and his fur was rough, his nose is rubbed away and one arm is missing, he probably had this bear since he was a baby.

She gets up and quietly gets out of the bedroom to check the living room. It’s dark and Casey cannot see anything. 

“Dennis?” She whispers.

“What is it?” She hears him whisper too, he gets up and turn on the light garland nearby the TV and despite the lights being really dimed, Casey notices he doesn’t wear his t-shirt anymore, leaving him bare chested. She checks him out, looking at the strong chest and defined abs. He looks bigger without a top on and Casey can see his impressive traps and shoulders. 

“What’s his name?” Casey asks as she shows him the teddy bear.

Dennis rolls his eyes, exasperate. 

“Strawberry Jam.” He says, expecting her to bully him for it forever.

Casey giggles. 

“Well, Strawberry Jam misses you, he keeps asking about you.” 

“Go to bed, Casey.” He says as he lays back down on the sofa, ignoring her but he hears her giggle again as she comes closer to him.

She climbs on him again as he lays down. He jumps a little at the sudden contact and he puts his hands on her hips firmly, restraining her from moving and grinding. His face loses his colours when he can’t feel the fabric of her pyjama bottom, and he realises she is in panties.

“Casey, where are your pants?” 

“I don’t sleep with them, silly. Don’t worry, I’m not completely naked.” She says lightly.

“God, you’re a nightmare.” 

“Shut up, you adore me.” 

“I think you’re the one who adore me.”

“You’re awfully confident.” She says, repeating his own words.

He giggles at that and sits up to kiss her, which she welcomes happily. 

“Go to bed, Case and be good for me.” He mutters against her lips, as he spanks her playfully on the bum. Casey bites her lower lip, excited by his dominance.

She leans in to kiss him deeply as she grinds on him. He tries to stop her, but she fights his hands and carries on grinding on him, she smiles victoriously as she feels him harden again. He exhales sharply through his nose and he gets up, carrying her as she wraps her legs around his hips and her arms around his neck. He walks towards the bedroom as she kisses him. He gently puts her on the bed, as he hovers over her, on his knees and hands.

“Let go.” This sounded very much like a warning or a threat. She lets go of him and leaves Strawberry Jam to fall on the floor. 

“Please, Casey. Be good, okay?” 

She pouts.

“But I want this really bad. It aches, I swear.” She says as she cups her own pussy with her hand, and she can feel her wetness through her panties. 

He giggles.

“I know, look at me. -He says as he glances toward his swollen crotch -That’s your fault, by the way. It took me ages to calm down earlier. I just want you to take your time and to not be disappointed. Maybe you’ll meet a guy your age at that goddamn party or I don’t know, at college, and then you’d regret doing anything with me. I just want you to know all the options you’ve got.” 

“And what if I still want you?” 

“Then, I’ll do anything you want.”

“But what do you want?” 

“Isn’t that obvious?” He lowers himself and grinds on her, making her feel how hard and swollen he is. They both moan at the contact. 

“I want to do things right this time.” He adds as he gets up, but Casey grabs him.

“Stay with me, I promise I won’t try anything anymore.” He looks at her and sighs, finally giving in.

“Okay.” He decides to leave the door open so the lights from the living room gives a little bit of clarity in the room and comes to lay down, under the covers, next to her in bed. He switches off the light on the night table, and he awkwardly stays on his back, looking at the ceiling, an arm underneath his head.

Casey turns on her usual side to sleep, facing away from him but she sticks her back and bum on him and rubs her cold feet on his legs. 

“Ah, your feet are freezing!” 

“Not sorry.” He rolls his eyes at that even though she can’t see him.

“Night.” She adds quietly, feeling her eyes closing. 

“Night, baby.” She jumps at that, turning towards him in shocked, completely awake.

“What?” He says confused, frowning as she looks at him carefully. She wasn’t sure it was Dennis right now.

“Did you just call me ‘baby’?”

“Yeah, why? Barry does, doesn’t he?” He asks, nonchalantly as he lays back down comfortably, but Casey knows there is an underlying jealousy there. Like he wants to confirm he can call her sweet names too, like it’s not exclusive to Barry. And she feels he’s not comfortable with sweet names, Barry over uses them, calling everyone ‘love’ and ‘babe’ like it’s no big deal, but she can tell it is a big deal for Dennis. The sweet name sounded strange in his mouth, like he never said it before.

“Yeah, Barry does.” She says carefully as she lays back down herself, turning away from him again. She waits quietly, knowing that he didn’t like her answer. 

“Then what’s the problem? You don’t like it when I call you that?” 

“Of course, I like it. -She says turning towards him, looking at him from under his shoulder. -I was just surprised. It’s the first time you call me that.” 

He nods quietly, but Casey can tell he’s overthinking.

“It’s not just a Barry thing. -She caresses his chest with her fingers in a reassuring manner. -Barry always calls everyone by sweet names, when it’s you, it’s more special. I like it. You gonna have to call me like that all the time, now.” She smirks and he kisses her on her forehead. She cuddles him, resting her left arm and left leg on him, making him stiff but they both relax eventually. 

“Do you usually sleep with Strawberry Jam?” She asks mischievously, whispering after a few seconds of silence. 

“I knew you wouldn’t let that go.” She giggles at that.

“No, I don’t sleep with my teddy bear. Kevin’s dad gave it to him the day he was born, and we kept it since. He’s a good companion and a protector, he makes things better.” 

“Well, I like him. I had a bunny plushie, but it’s long gone, my uncle got rid of it, I was really upset about it.” 

Dennis nods, pulling her towards him.

“What happened to his left arm?” She asks.

“War wound.” 

As she is about to ask another question, Dennis cut her off.

“Case, sleep.” Even though, his voice is low, Casey can still identify the firm order. 

She nods and finally closes her eyes to fall asleep a couple of minutes later.

It’s only when she hears some voices chatting up that Casey’s eyes flutter open. 

“Holy shit, guys, is that her? -This comes as an excited whisper, like a child and Casey can hear a lisp. -She’s so beautiful, like Wednesday Adams.” 

“Don’t wake her up!” She recognizes Dennis’s deep and firm voice and she opens her eyes to find an empty bed. She turns around and find him, staring at her with huge shiny eyes, and an excited smile. He’s kneeing on the floor, against the bed, his face near her pillow, making her jump. How long has he been staring at her sleep? The idea creeps her out but she pushes away the thoughts, she has to be strong and accepting like he was with her. He’s wearing a blue Adidas tracksuit, matching bottom and sweater and Casey knows this isn’t Dennis.

“You make noises in your sleep.” He giggles.

The lisp is strong and childish and his voice softer, and Casey guesses this must be the child. 

“You must be Hedwig?” She asks with a sleepy voice. 

“Oh, the guys told you about me! -He says, proudly. -I am and I got red socks!”

He jumps on the bed, carelessly, making Casey bounce and he proudly show her his red socks, mere centimetres away from her face. 

“Nice. I’m Casey.” 

“I know that, you silly. The guys can’t stop talking about you, you should hear them; ‘Casey is special, she is like us’ bla bla bla…Can you help me grab the Lucky Charms box on top of the cabinet? Mr Dennis always put it up high so I can’t reach it.” 

“Yeah, sure. -She says sleepily, as she rubs her eyes and gets up. -What time is it, by the way?”

He shrugs as he puts Strawberry Jam inside the covers in the bed. Casey puts on her pyjama pants and checks her phone, ten in the morning. 

“Okay, let’s get you some cereals.” 

She awkwardly looks for two bowls in the cabinets of the kitchen, while Hedwig observes her closely. She serves them both Lucky charms and milk and they make their way to the living room to watch some TV. Hedwig puts on some cartoons and Casey finds it somewhat refreshing to watch some stupid cartoons, making her laugh. 

“Are you Mr Dennis’s girlfriend?” 

The question takes her by surprise, and she doesn’t know what to answer. She’d like to say ‘yes’, just so she could see Dennis reaction, which could be hilarious. 

“I don’t think I am.”

“He and Barry like you. They were arguing last time.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, they don’t tell me everything. Hey, do you like Drake?” 

Casey frowns as she feels intrigued and she’d like to know more about their argument, but Hedwig is hyper, changing subject every five minutes.

“Yeah, I like him.” 

“I can rap, just like him. Wanna see?” 

“Sure.” 

He takes Drake’s album from the shelves.

“Come on.” He says as he grabs her by her T-shirt to drag her. 

She follows him to the ‘erratic’ room where Hedwig puts the CD in his CD player and ‘I’m upset’ starts blaring. As the music goes, Hedwig tries to rap on top of Drake voice, and Casey has to retain herself from laughing as it was pretty bad but cute. Casey joins him on the verse that she knows as she sits on his cream coloured fluffy carpet. He stops in the middle of the song to show her his goldfish. The morning goes by and Casey has to admit that there is something quite disturbing seeing a grown man acting as a child and as Casey studies him, she can tell how unstable Kevin really is, but how amazing it is that three other personalities lives inside him. She would never admit it out loud, but she doubted whether Kevin created those personalities to protect himself or if his brain did manage to split into three different and real personalities. Were those personalities, not just pieces and facets of Kevin’s own personality? Or were they actual different people sharing his body? 

As they watch another cartoon, Casey checks her phone and she knows she has to go home. She can’t take the risk to be caught but she really doesn’t want to go back there. This week-end with them has been a real breather and the thought of going back to her uncle’s house makes her sick in her stomach. 

“Hedwig, would you mind getting Barry or Dennis? I need to go back home.” 

“Oh, already?” He says disappointed. 

“Yeah, sorry, buddy but I have to be back home before my uncle.” 

“Got it.” 

She stands up and scratches his head, lovingly before going to the bedroom to change into her sweats. Once, she is ready, Casey picks up everything she brought around and puts it in her backpack. When she gets in the living room, Barry is waiting for her as he checks his phone, sat down on the sofa. His wearing black Levi’s baggy jeans and a grey and orange tight Ellesse jumper and a pair of white air max and Casey has to admit that she likes that style. 

“Hey, B.” She says, happy to see him.

“Hey, baby girl. Come here. -He says as he gives her a cuddle. He pushes Casey to his chest, rocking them. -I missed you. Did you have a good week-end?”

“Yeah, I did. Thank you for letting me stay.” 

“No need to thank me girl, you can come back anytime.” He waves his hand, dismissing what she said, and he goes to look for his keys. 

For some reason, Casey feels guilty and nervous like she’s done something bad. She swallows as she looks at Barry looking everywhere for his car keys and she can even hear him say ‘where on earth did he put the goddamn keys?’. She knows that he knows, and it feels wrong and stressful.

“Barry?” She calls, her voice slightly high pitch by her edginess.

“Yes. -He says as he turns to look at her, slightly worried by her tone. -What is it, sweetie?” 

“I’ve kissed Dennis yesterday. Is that okay?”

He sighs.

“Of course, it’s okay. Why would it not be okay?” 

“It’s your body too.” She says awkwardly and he genuinely laugh at that.

“I appreciate the thoughts, baby girl but trust me I don’t mind. I like you and I think you’re good to us. Look, dating a guy with DID isn’t the easiest thing but just so you know, I’m cool with it.”

“We are dating?”

“I would say so but Dennis struggles with that kind of things. Don’t expect him to say the words.” 

He finally finds the keys that were in Dennis’s black trousers pockets and they both gets out of the flat, making it to his car. 

“How does it work though? Am I dating Dennis or all of you?” They both cringes at the question. 

“Hum…This is such a difficult question. The thing is it’s completely up to you, and we’ll work around it. If you want to be exclusive with Dennis, then I’ll never cross the line but if you decide otherwise, I’ll go with it too - He sighs and glances at her before looking back at the road. -Know what I mean?” 

“Hum…I think so. What about Dennis? I mean, wouldn’t he be upset? I mean, is there some kind of jealousy between you, guys?” 

“The thing you have to know about Dennis is that he is possessive, he won’t want to share with anyone, but our situation is different, we share the same body and you’ll spend as much time with me than with him. And I know, even if he doesn’t like it, he will want me to fill up for his ‘absence’ in any way that you need.” 

“But what about you? What if you meet someone and want to be with…that person?” Casey hesitated on saying ‘her’ or ‘him’ as she wasn’t sure about Barry’s sexuality. 

“This won’t happen, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m a bit of a social butterfly, I don’t really do relationships.” 

“So, isn’t having me around hard on you?” 

“Babe, it won’t be, I like you a lot.” 

Casey sighs loudly.

“God, this is complicated.”

“I told you so. -Barry answers lightly as he pulls into her street. -There we are, kiddo.” 

Casey looks outside at her uncle’s house, feeling the usual anxiety and nausea coming back to her. God, she wishes she could just run away with Barry and Dennis, far away from here or even hide forever at his place. Barry might have sense it as he sighs looking at her house and put a reassuring hand on her knee. 

“You’re gonna be okay?” He asks, looking at her. 

“Yeah. Only two weeks more until my eighteen birthday and I can finally escape…Hopefully.” 

“Definitely, you mean. -He says with a fake severe tone, making her smile. -You can crash at mine, for all I care, as long as you’re safe.” 

“Thanks, B. -She says as she leans in and kisses him chastely on the lips. -I’ll text you.” 

She opens the door and gets out of the car and as she’s about to shut the door, Barry says loudly ‘Call me if you need me, okay?’, she nods as she shuts the door. He drives off as Casey waves at him. It’s only when she walks to the front door to unlock it that she notices one of her neighbours outside, looking at her with his black beady eyes. She nods ‘hello’ carefully at him and he turns around sharply, ignoring her, leaving Casey with a bad feeling. She knows her uncle hasn’t come back yet as she couldn’t spot his old pick-up truck on the drive-way. She opens the door to lock it again once she’s inside and the smell of humidity hits her making her sigh as she climbs the stairs. The house is messy and freezing and she goes to her bedroom to sit on her bed, the neighbour on her mind.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning ! Very violent and traumatic chapter.

Chapter 6

She wakes up with the heavy smell of cigarette floating in the air and the crackling noise of someone drawing on a cigarette. Casey flutters her eyes open; her room was dark, and she can see through her window that the night has fallen. Only the light from the moon and the street lights brings some clarity to her room. She is still wearing her clothes and she comes to the conclusion she must have fallen asleep. She blinks several times before making out her uncle, sitting on her desk chair in the dark, smoking a cigarette making the end of it crackle and lighting up. Pure anguish is filling her up, as she can sense something is very wrong. Her uncle silently stares at her, overthinking. Casey doesn’t know how long she has been asleep or how long he’s been watching her, but her instinct is screaming that something is up and something really bad is about to happen. She clears her throat and slowly pushes herself up on one arm. 

“Uncle John, is everything alright?” Her voice is hoarse from sleep and stress. 

The silence fills the room, her uncle smoke slowly while observing her and Casey can finally see his cold and calculating gaze as a car passes in front of the house, the headlights bringing some bright light for a few seconds. Casey sits up against the bed and give a quick glance around her room, evaluating her situation. She has her shoes on and she is dressed, it would be easier if she has to run outside. She notices her backpack near her desk, still full of her laptop, chargers, wallet, clothes. Her uncle blows some smoke out slowly through his mouth and crushes the rest of it by rolling it through his fingers. 

“I heard a funny story Casey-bear.” His voice is hoarse and rough, like he’s been smoking for a long time. He seems tired as he rubs one of eye- “Wanna hear it?” 

Casey already knows the neighbour snitched; she feels it. She tries to make up a story that he would buy but she can feel that tonight will be different. She can feel an acidic bile in her stomach and her throat, and she struggles to breath properly. Uncle John wet his lips with his tongue. 

“What? Did the cat got your tongue?” He smiles but Casey can see the underlying anger underneath it.  
He leans towards her bed, both elbows on his knees. She retracts her legs to her.

“I thought you were my girl. I thought I could trust you; you owe me that much. Have I not been a good provider for you, uh? I go away for the week-end, trusting you to be good and waiting for me at home. And instead, you betray me. Sneaking out with some older guy, giving away what’s mine. That’s right, Casey-bear, Todd told me about your little boyfriend.” His voice was measured but Casey could see his hands shaking with rage. 

Her throat tightens, like an iron grip around it, she can’t even swallow and she feel tears forming in her eyes. 

“No, uncle John, I swear, that’s not true.”

Her voice break as a flood of tears run on her cheeks. Her breathing becomes erratic when she sees her mobile phone in his hands. He throws it to her face violently, the phone hitting harshly her lip which she feels swollen straight away. A sob escaped her as she stands up, the bed in-between them.

“Please, uncle John.” She puts both her hands in front of her, in order to calm him down or to vainly protect her. 

He stands up and grabs her hard by the hair, making her head snap brutally on one side, making her cry louder and her breathing quicken even more. He approaches his face mere millimetres away from hers and Casey can smell alcohol and cigarette on his breath. 

“You’re a lying little whore, Casey, and you need a good lesson.” 

He slaps her hard, her body falling back on the bed, her ribs hitting painfully the wooden frame of her bed. She winces in pain before he grabs her back by the hair, pulling her back on her feet. Adrenaline takes over fear and she try to slap and kick at him, hysterically. He punches her in the face, knocking her out, her body drops on the floor in a loud stump. She can hear her ears ringing and her vision his blurry, she can’t move so she lays on the floor, unanimated. She can feel her uncle on top of her, fidgeting with her clothes or his and dragging down abruptly her trackies and panties at the same time. With horror she feels him forcing two fingers inside her, but as she tries to protest, she finds herself incapable of moving or talking. Only some incomprehensible babbling comes out of her mouth and as she moves slightly her head on one side, she winces in pain as her head feels like her whole skull is broken and her brain has swollen. She feels the bile in her throat, threatening to come out as she can now feel the weight of her uncle on top of her. Now, even though he already touched her and forced her to touch him on the regular basis, he never actually penetrated her. Casey was still a virgin. She weakly moves her arms towards him and pushes vainly on his arms. 

“I was waiting for your eighteen birthdays but seems to me that you’re ready.” He whispers to her ears, making Casey sobs and begs for him to stop. 

She can feel her uncle’s harden cock at her entrance and adrenaline and desperation takes over her. Despite the pain and the confusion, she fights back, kicking, punching and even biting at him. She manages to bite his nose with all the strength she got, tasting blood in her mouth. He backs away from her, screaming, holding his nose and Casey takes the opportunity to turn around on her belly and get up on all four before pulling herself up using her bed frame. She makes a run for her bedroom door, but he grabs her before she can open it. 

“You little bitch!” He shouts, holding her by her hair. He turns her around, facing him and grabs her face with one hand, hitting her head repeatedly against the door before punching her in the stomach. She can feel her lungs emptied themselves as she hunches over, holding her stomach with her arms. She throws up on the floor and on his shoes. 

“God, you make me sick.” He snarls before throwing her on her single bed, her head hanging on the other side. He quickly comes behind her, holding her hips and Casey doesn’t have any strength left to fight. Her whole body is in pain and she can taste vomit and blood in her mouth. She feels exhausted and broken. She winces in pain when she feels him pushing inside her forcefully, but no sounds come out of her mouth. She stopped crying too, her body is slumped like a ragged doll, like she isn’t there anymore. Her head is moving with every hip thrust. She can hear his ragged breathing as he finishes inside her.   
He silently backs away, leaving Casey to collapse slowly on the bed. He pulls back on his army trousers, before walking to the door.

“You better clean that up.” He says as he climbs over the puddle of vomit. 

He finally leaves but she stays there, her trackies and panties down to her ankles. She doesn’t know what to do and she stays there for a while, trying to think but it feels as her brain doesn’t work. She weakly looks for her phone with one shaky hand, patting her bed. She holds it firmly once she finds it and opens it. She feels too weak to talk, to explain or to fight back. She finally stands up weakly, her whole body shaking uncontrollable, her phone in her hands. She can feel something sticky sliding down on her legs and she gags a few times, but nothing comes out. She looks around her room, no daring making a sound, realising what just happened. She can feel the bile rising in her throat again and she makes her way to the bathroom as quietly as possible. She locks herself in and hunch over the toilet and throws up. She is exhausted and she rest her face and arm on the toilet seat, not caring about how dirty it can be. She can feel her eyelids closing themselves, but the pain keeps her awake. She stands up and has a look at herself in the mirror. Her lips are swollen from crying and being hit. Her left eye is closed shut, swollen and black. The bruise takes half her face. She cries silently, leaning weakly against the sink. She removes her clothes and gets inside the shower, turning the water as hot as she can stand. Blood and cum are mixed and started drying on her legs. She starts scrubbing herself roughly, leaving red angry stripes on her porcelain skin. She doesn’t know how long she stays there, but enough time for her to wash herself three times, her skin completely red from head to toe. She stops the water from running and dries herself. She wraps herself in a towel and sits on the toilet. Thinking. She looks at her phone absently and finally opens her texts.

‘I need help. It’s bad. Please, get your dad. Do not call.’ She has to retype it a few times as her hands shakes violently.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Casey stays sat down on the toilets for like seems forever, wrapped in her towel, her eyes locked to her bright phone screen, holding her breath. She doesn’t know how long she stays there, immobile, waiting for an answer but when she feels her phone vibrate, she can already feel pins and needles in her legs and her feet being numb.  
She reads the text straight away, hands shaking and sweaty from adrenaline and stress. 

‘Where are you? What happened? Are you safe? My dad is on his way, stay put.’ 

She exhales slowly and start typing with shaky hands.

‘I’m locked in the bathroom. I think it’s safe for the moment.” 

‘Is your uncle in the house?’ 

‘I don’t know, I can’t hear him. But he should be here.’ 

‘What happened? Do I need to call the police?’ 

Casey forces herself to inhale and exhale slowly and carefully as she can already feel panic and dread running through her body. The police. It made her situation so much more real. Final. A part of her, just want to dismiss Joseph and tell him she overreacted, that everything will be fine so she can go back to hide from the world. Telling everything to the police it’s like exposing herself to the world, confronting her uncle, this would mean admitting to herself and everyone else that she is one of those abused kids. She lifts her head up and her eyes locked themselves on her own gaze, the flashbacks from earlier hits her hard and anger replaces the fear. Her mouth sets in a straight line. I hate you; she thinks angrily looking at her reflection. Stop being a coward. 

‘He raped me.’ 

There she said it. The text was sent and once again, she stopped breathing, eyes on her screen, impatiently waiting. Joseph doesn’t answer straight away as she expected and for a second, she thinks he won’t believe her. She finally stands up and she struggles pacing around as her legs and feet are dead. She paces back and forth in the little bathroom; her towel and hair are now just moist, and her body had finally dried. ‘It’s okay.’ She repeats in continue to herself before her phone vibrates again.

‘Casey, listen carefully. I need you to stay calm and do as I say. I’ve called my dad and explained him what happened. He’s five minutes away now, he’s coming to get you. I’ve contacted the police and they’re on their way right now. I need you to get ready to leave if you can, pick up a bag.’ 

‘Okay.’ 

‘Be careful.’ 

She stops pacing and stares at the bathroom door. She swallows and inhales sharply. She picks up the clothes that she was wearing earlier that still contained blood and sperm. She slowly and carefully opens the door and slips outside. Her uncle is not in view and she can’t hear him either, she concludes he might be downstairs. She tiptoes to her room and closes the door behind her carefully.  
Adrenaline kicks in and she can feel her heartbeat beating loud and fast as she hurriedly opens her wardrobe and puts on some clean underwear, clean jogging, an oversized t-shirt and an oversized jumper. She picks up her backpack, and double check everything is in, laptop, laptop charger, phone charger, clothes, wallets, earphones. She quickly picks up a duffle bag from her wardrobe and fills it up with all she can find, underwear, clothes, school books and a picture of her parents. As she throws the dirty clothes she was wearing when IT happened in a plastic bag, she can ear loud and clear the doorbell ringing. Her heart and breathing stops at the sound to finally pick up the pace even faster than it was. She puts her backpack on and adds the duffle bag on her shoulder, the plastic bag in her hand. 

She quietly makes her way to the staircase where she silently stands and listen to the conversation between her uncle and Mr Dunn. 

“What the hell does this mean? My girl is not going anywhere, Dunn.” She can hear the loud and hoarse voice of her uncle, and she can tell he is already angry. 

She slowly comes down the stairs and she now can see the large figure of her uncle in front of the opened door, almost blocking the view to Mr Dunn. Her uncle doesn’t hear her come down, but she knows Mr Dunn noticed her as their eyes lock and his mouth falls opens with horror. Her face. She knows and she can feel she’s not pretty to look at right now. Even though, her left eye is closed shut, she can still see with her right eye the changes in Mr Dunn’s expressions, from surprised and horror to disgust to anger. 

“Casey.” He calls and John finally turns around. Him too looks horrified but not surprised and Casey can see pure anger in his cold eyes, she called someone for help and she’s trying to leave him. 

“Where the fuck you think you’re going? Go back to your room!” He roars, stepping threateningly towards her making Casey backing up a little on the stairs. 

“You went too far this time, John. You’re not getting away with it, the police are coming.” David Dunn’s voice is strong and steady. As on cue, blue and red lights flash around the neighbourhood and Casey can see her uncle’s face paling. 

“You called the cops on your only family, Casey! You’re stupid slut! They’ll never believe you, you’re nothing without me!” He spits angrily towards her as a police car finally gets in front of their house. 

David Dunn doesn’t take his eyes off of him as the two police officers comes to the front door. 

“What’s going on, here?” One of the officers asks as he looks around, judging the scene. David Dunn introduces himself and shakes the officer’s hand as he explains the situation.

“My son, Joseph is the one that called you. I’m David Dunn, I used to be Casey’s foster dad. Casey, his niece, contacted me as she was in distress.” 

The officer nods and steps in slightly. 

“Mr Cooke? - He nods at John who desperately tries to cover Casey with his large posture in order to block them from seeing her. – Could we talk to Casey, please?” 

“I don’t see, why. She’s just a trouble teenager like they all are, imma right.” He laughs forcefully but no one else smiles. 

“Mr Cooke, I’m sure you understand, we only would like to check on her.” 

Casey decides it’s time to show some courage and comes down the stairs, gripping strongly the straps of her bags. As she approaches her uncle and passes by him, she can feel pure fear invading her. As soon as the second police officer sees her face, she pulls her gun out of its holder and points it at her uncle. 

“Mr Cooke, step away from the girl. Hands in the air!” The officer shouts making Casey jumps. David Dunn takes the opportunity to enter their house and grabs Casey by the shoulders, protectively. 

“This is a misunderstanding. Casey got jumped in the streets. -John’s voice is now calmer and almost friendly. -Tell’em, Casey bear.” He says as he looks at her but Casey refuses to meet his eyes, leaning into David Dunn. 

“Hands above the head, Sir. NOW.” John grimaces but finally puts his up and turn around as requested before the officer handcuff him. 

As the police officer drags him out of the house, John resists a little bit and grits his teeth, looking at both Casey and David. Casey cannot look at him and she retracts herself in the arms of David Dunn. 

“Alright, I’m gonna call for backup, while your uncle will be taken to custody. I’m gonna have to take your statement so he can be charged, if that alright?”

Casey nods as her uncle is taking away and she can feel herself breath easier already.  
The officer took her statement and Casey told everything in detail, glancing at Mr Dunn whose face was pale and hardened with anger. Another police car arrived, and another officer introduced herself before taking several pictures of Casey’s face and body. 

“Trust me, no judge will let him walk free with pictures like that. The son of bitch will pay for it, I promise you that. -The police officer says as he packs up- I’m going to take you to the police station for a forensic medical examination, if that’s alright.” 

“Can I come with her?” David Dunn’s voice is hoarse from not talking for a while.  
“If Casey doesn’t mind, then I guess you can follow us to the station and wait for her. I cannot promise that she’ll come home with you tonight, the social services will likely recommend temporary foster care until she turns eighteen.” 

Panic and dread spread through Casey like vines.

“I want to stay with the Dunn’s. They’re my foster parents.” Her voice is broken, and her throat feels dry and painful. 

“My wife works for social services. Do we need to apply for emergency fostering?” 

“That can’t hurt. I’d give her a call if I were you.” The officer answers. 

They all make their way to the station, and Casey can feel her throat tightens as she waits for the forensic nurse to come to the station as it is the middle of the night. Her legs are shaking and moving nervously as she is sat next to David, who gently rubs her back to try and reassure her. 

“You did very good, Casey. I’m proud of you, kid. You’re a fighter and Audrey and I will fight to have you back home in no time. Audrey is already on it. She was waiting for my call all night.” He says with a little smile appearing in the corner of his mouth. 

Casey smiles back slightly, despite her busted lip, imagining very well how worried Mrs Dunn must have been, eyes locked on the phone all night in order to hear some news. 

It’s only in the early hours that the nurse comes by and Casey stiffly follows her to the examination room to get checked out. As soon as Casey get inside the room, she can feel her anxiety kicking in again, the smell of the medical solutions burn her nose slightly and she goes to sit down at the desk where requested. The nurse was a middle age white woman, with short grey hair and blue eyes, and Casey find her somewhat motherish and reassuring. She was very calm and was talking very quietly with a soothing voice, as to not scare her more. After asking Casey a dozen question and writing down all the answer on a report, she gave her leaflets about domestic violence, sexual abuse, sexual transmitted diseases and contraception. She asks her to sit down on the examination table and uses a few swabs wherever her uncle might have touched or kissed her. She then carries out a vaginal examination on Casey before taking a blood sample to determine any sexual transmitted diseases and gives Casey an emergency contraception pill. 

The nurse finally checks the bruises and scars Casey has before claiming she was lucky not to get a broken cheekbone. 

“Alright, young lady, I’m done here. I’m gonna built a strong case against your uncle, I’ve got enough proof here. -She smiles reassuringly and passes the leaflets to Casey- Take care, child.” After Casey picks up her leaflets, she shyly goes back to Mr Dunn, where she finds Mrs Dunn arguing with the police officers. 

As soon as Casey comes into her sight, she stops arguing and lift her hand to her opened mouth. Shock and sadness can be seen all over her face and Casey can see tears threatening to fall. 

“Casey.” She whispers and she quickly makes her way to her in order to cuddle her. They hug for a while, holding each other strongly and Casey cannot stop the tears falling as she starts crying uncontrollably, spasm jerking her body. 

“It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s over. -Audrey whispers repeatedly. -We’ve got you. You’re coming home with us; we got the green light by my boss. We’ll officialise the papers this afternoon.” 

After signing every attestation, they get discharged by the police and walk to the cars. Casey decides to ride with Audrey as she brought her own car.

“Thank you for taking me in.” Casey’s voice is hoarse and quiet from crying and fatigue. 

“Nonsense don’t thank us; you’re always been part of the family. I’ve already prepared your bedroom and I got some Codeine pills at home for you. You’re safe now, Casey. You’re never ever going back.” Casey can hear the tremble in her voice as she’s about to cry but there is an undeniable strength behind it 

“Is Joseph home?” Casey asks after sometimes. 

“He is, he couldn’t go to class today, he was too worried and upset. He can’t wait to see you, sweetie.” 

Audrey glances towards her as she can hear a sniffle and looks back at the road with a frown. 

“What is it?” 

“I don’t want him to see me like this. I…I’m disfigured.” 

“There is no need to be ashamed, Case. The one who did this is the one who gotta be ashamed. Nothing that ice and time won’t make go away.” 

Silence falls in the car only interrupted by rare sniffles and hiccups from Casey. 

The Dunn’s live in the city, the Old City to be exact and they have to park slightly away from their home as there isn’t any space for them to park near their house. As soon as they both parks, they make their way to the Dunn’s house in the narrow street of Cuthbert street as David carries Casey’s bags. Casey always loved Old City and particularly Cuthbert street, it gave her a sense of security and healthiness. The Dunn’s live at 116 Cuthbert Street and despite her fatigue, Casey feels relief spreading all over her. The house is lovely and has two floors, the front door and shutters are the same grey colours making it harmonious. The house contains three bedrooms and two bathrooms, and the house is always tidy and clean, with a soft decoration. Everything about this house screamed happy and healthy family. As soon as they approach the house, Casey can see the front door being thrown opened and Joseph comes out of it, almost running towards them, mobile phone tightly held in his hand, he looks pale and tired, worry all over his face. He stops abruptly around two meters away from Casey, horror painted on his face as he looks at her. 

“Case.” He says quietly, but he doesn’t make a move anymore. 

Casey can feel the tears coming to her eyes, but she swallows hard and offers him a broken smile.

“Pretty badass, uh? Bet you can’t score one of those, even in your football games.” She says with a playful tone, but Joseph doesn’t seem able to smile but instead he has a small quiet laugh that sounds more like a sigh. 

“Let’s go home, Casey is about to fall asleep standing there. -Audrey says and they all start walking to the house before she calls them out– No one is going to bed without breakfast though. Not on my watch.”

Once inside, Casey takes a big breath and she can smell the honey wax that Audrey uses on the wooden floor and cookies. She can feel fatigue spreading all over her as she now feels safe and protected, like her whole body can finally relax. 

“I’m not really hungry, mom.” Says Joseph as they all look at each other in the hall of entrance. 

“We all had a very long night and Casey needs to eat something so she can take some painkillers. So, pancakes it is, no discussion. Honey, can you wrap some ice in a towel for Casey so she can put it on her eye, it will help with the swelling.” 

At that, Audrey disappears in the kitchen and starts getting breakfast ready as Joseph hurriedly throws some ice cube in a clean kitchen towel. 

“I’m gonna leave your bags in your bedroom, Casey. Anything that needs to be washed, just bring it to Audrey. This is your home too now; you can do whatever you want.” David says with a smile and Casey answers back to it, nodding and thanking him quietly. 

Casey quietly walks to the living room where two cream-colours sofas are surrounding a fluffy pastel blue rug. Joseph joins her up, awkwardly, like he didn’t know what to say or do and passes her the made-up bag of ice he made. 

“Thanks.” She says as she puts it on her eye, and she feels embarrassed like she is ridiculous. They both sit on one of the sofas and Joseph is slightly leaned towards her.

“Wanna watch some TV or…?” He asks.

“Sure.”

Joseph doesn’t answer and puts on Disney channel. Casey knows that Joseph might have a dozen questions and might even want to talk about it all, but she is thankful he restrains himself from it. Both of them watch the screen intently but none of them can focus. 

After Audrey calls everyone for breakfast, they all sit in silence, trying to eat as much as they can without succeeding much. Audrey let them know that she and David will go to her work to finalise Casey’s emergency fostering before giving two Codeine pills to Casey that she swallows happily. She couldn’t wait for the painkillers to kick in. Audrey starts taking away the half-emptied plates before David comes to take over. 

“I think you two should get a nap. – Says Audrey as she looks at them both and Casey nods as she barely stands on her feet. -Your room is as you left it, honey. I’ve changed the bedding and those ones are super soft.” She adds with a warm smile. 

The three of them go upstairs, Audrey taking the lead as she reintroduces the house to Casey. As soon as Casey gets inside “her room”, she cannot believe this is real and she is back at the Dunn’s. Her room is nice and warm, perfectly waxed wooden floor that made the room warm and it has that sweet smell; pastel green walls with two windows on opposite walls. There is a single bed with a wooden frame and a desk and chair made out of the same wood. A large wardrobe sank into the wall, covered in mirrors and Casey can tell Audrey keep it simple but still decorated the room nicely. There is a little purple cushion on her desk chair that matches the colours of the little desk lamp, the beddings match the pastel green colours of the walls and the fluffy carpet on the side of her bed. As David told her, her bags were at the bottom of her bed and she thought she will need much more clothes to fill up that wardrobe. Audrey shows her the fresh towels and the spare toothbrush under the sink before Casey thanks her quietly. She could already feel the painkillers kicking in as she feels drowsy and her breathing becoming shallow. 

After Audrey and David left for work to finalise her foster care application, she plugs in her phone and change into some old sport short that she used to wear for gym class and a XL t-shirt that had a faded Philadelphia logo on it. She lays into bed as Joseph quietly knocks on the opened door of her room.

“Come in.” Her voice is hoarse.

“Hey. You’re all good? Are the meds working? -Casey nods sleepily. -I’ll be taking a nap myself; I’ll be right there. Don’t hesitate to get me if you need anything.” 

“Thanks, J. I’ll be fine, don’t worry.” She forces herself to reassure him.

Joseph nods and Casey is too high to see the flash of sadness passing in his eyes.

“Get some rest, little Case.”


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

It has been ten days since that night and Casey saw her black eye changed from black to blue to a greenish disgusting yellow. Her eye wasn’t swollen anymore so she could finally open it without struggle, however the white of her eye was still bright red like her eye was injected with blood. She hasn’t been back at school since she moved in with the Dunn’s and she happily hid in their house, busying herself watching TV or being on her laptop. Casey refused to think about what happened to her and simply never mentioned it despite the shy attempts of Mrs Dunn to open a discussion. Joseph was back on campus for his studies, but he made a point to come back every evening to help her revise for her high school diploma. He would help her revise for two hours and then they would hangout, usually watching stupid tv shows before they grabbed dinner with his parents, and he would leave again. And tonight, was no exception, Audrey was cooking in the kitchen while David was setting up the table as they told each other how their days went. Joseph was already on his way, according to a text he sent Casey half an hour ago.  
Casey was about to come downstairs when she heard her phone vibrate for the fourth time of the day. She closes her eyes and breath sharply through her nose as she makes her way to her desk where her phone is. She already knows who it is, and Kevin’s name appear on her phone. She rubs her eyes tiredly as she opens the text.

‘Casey, please. I’m worried sick. Look, it’s okay, I got it, you don’t want to see us anymore. But please, just send me a text to let me know you’re alright at least.’ 

That was Barry, Dennis texts were colder and authoritative, his texts sounded like orders; ‘Casey, answer”, ‘Pick up the phone’, ‘Answer me.’ Casey’s heart tightens and she exhales quietly, biting her lower lip. Her whole phone screen was filled up with unanswered texts from Kevin. She hadn’t talk to him since he gave her a lift back home ten days ago. She had ignored every phone call and every text and there had been a lot of them. At the beginning he texted once or twice then he started getting worried at her silence and texted five times a day and called her an average of three times a day. She just didn’t know what to say and she wasn’t sure if she wanted him to find out at all. She knew she was being selfish and horrible, but she was terrified and ashamed of telling him what happened. She inhales sharply through the nose before typing a quick answer to him before she changes her mind. 

‘I’m fine.’ She doesn’t know what to say or what to add and she has to rewrite the text multiple times before sending it. 

The answer is immediate, and Casey wonders for a second how he could’ve type this fast.

‘God, where have you been? I was about to call the cops. Let me call you, please.’ 

As Casey is about to reply, she can hear a soft knock on her door. 

“Hey lil sis, what’s cracking? Ready for your private lessons?” Joseph says with a playful smile as he leans on Casey’s bedroom door and slightly shows the books he holds in his other hand. Casey can’t stop herself from smiling back at him as she carelessly shrugs her shoulder. 

“Do we really have to? I think I deserve a break.” She says with a cheeky smile as Joseph chuckles and comes to sit down on her bed.

“Do you now? What about going to college?” 

She rolls her eyes at that.

“Come on, I’ll be fine. You’ve been tutoring me non-stop. Next thing you know, I’ll be sharing the same dorms as you.” 

“You’re thinking of going to Philadelphia University?” 

“Yeah, why? Already tired of having me around?” She says playfully as she gently pushes him on his shoulder. 

Joseph doesn’t answer but he gently put his hand on top of hers and ends up holding it softly. He keeps her hand in his for a while, a bit too long to be friendly and Casey gently takes her hand away from his as she clears a throat and pushes a strand of hair behind her ears. She randomly opens a book from the pile that Joseph brought with him and she pretends to focus on it to avoid the awkwardness of the situation. 

It wasn’t the first time for Joseph to show his affection for Casey, she caught him a few time looking at her with something close to adoration, hugging her for slightly longer than normal and randomly holding her hand, but he would usually hide it under a brotherly act, making some goofy jokes or punching her gently on her arm. She noticed that recently he called her ‘sister’ and ‘sis’ more than he ever did, like he would try to remind himself she was out of reach. After all, she was living with them and they ‘sort of’ have the same parents now. Casey had to admit to herself that she likes Joseph, always did and she even had a crush on him the first time they met. He was older and cool, tall and handsome and yes, Casey knew she had fancy him and probably still did. He knew everything about her, all the terrible things that happened to her, all the shameful things she had to put up with and he still liked her, still protected her. Even though, he knew what her uncle did to her, he still seems to like her, maybe even more now; while Casey felt filthy and ruined. Yes, this is it, she was ruined, her uncle had taken away her innocence by force, making it impossible for her to give it to anyone else, making it impossible for her to forget about him. Who would still want her after that? Who would love her and desire her when her disgusting, sickening uncle was everywhere? On her skin, on her lips, inside her?  
But Joseph seems to see past through it all and seems to look at her like she was beautiful and brand new. And Casey knew it would be easy to let him love her and to love him back. He was perfect for her, but something was missing, and she didn’t know what. Also, there was Kevin in the equation now and she couldn’t deny the feelings she has for the older man. 

As on cue with her thought, her phone vibrates and both Casey and Joseph look at her phone that is on her bed. Kevin’s name appears as he is calling. 

“Who’s Kevin?” Joseph asks as Casey puts her phone on silent. 

“Um…- She starts unsure of what to answer to Joseph as she texts a quick ‘I’ll call you tonight, promise.’ to Kevin before leaving her phone on the night table -You’ve met him actually. At the comic book shop where you work, remember?” 

For some reasons, Casey feels nervous like she’s been caught doing something wrong. Joseph seems to think for a second before realisation appears on his face.

“Oh, that guy who gave you a lift back home from the zoo, right?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Are you guys actually friends?” 

“Yeah, we kept contact, we just chat sometimes.”

Joseph seems to digest the information and Casey silently prays he won’t ask anything more. 

“Shall we start? I’d like to go through English again. Do you know what I need to get to be accepted at Philadelphia?” 

“Depends what you wanna study?” 

“Law.” 

“Really? Casey attorney of law. You’re definitely gonna need English, History and social sciences. You’re most definitely gonna need more than that, we could check it out if you want.” 

“Let’s get started then.” She half sighs as she lays on her side, her head resting on her arm. 

They barely had an hour to study before being called downstairs for dinner. Even though, the chicken and chips made by Audrey looked and smelled really good, Casey still didn’t feel the need to eat. She just wasn’t hungry anymore and there wasn’t’ any food out there, regardless how tasty it must be, that attracted her or made her want to eat it. She managed to lose weights rapidly in ten days and she could already feel her clothes getting too large for her, her trackies falling on her hips. 

“Casey, you haven’t touched your food.” Audrey says worriedly as she looks at Casey’s plate.

Casey stops pushing her food around the plate, pretending to eat and grimaces slightly to Audrey.

‘I’m sorry, I’m not very hungry.” 

“You barely eat, Casey. We’re worried about you. -Audrey waits for an answer but Casey keeps her gaze on her plate, head down, embarrassed. – David and I… we think it would be good for you to talk to someone.” 

At that, Casey looks up at Audrey and then at David and she can tell they have been discussing that before, they all seem nervous around the table; Audrey bites her lip nervously, and both David and Joseph keep they eyes on their food, quiet.

“As in… a psychiatrist?” Casey asks.

“Yes. We have discussed it for a while now, and we think it would be good for you. Casey, you don’t eat anymore, you stay in your room all day long and you barely communicate. If you can’t speak to us, then maybe you could speak to someone you don’t know, someone who’s a professional, someone neutral. And I’m not saying that you should speak to us, I’m not expecting you to and I completely understand but it might help you out to talk about it.” 

Casey can tell she’s terrified on saying something wrong, like she’s been rehearsing that speech over and over in her head before saying it out loud. Casey could hear the hesitation at almost every word, and she feels the need to reassure her, but the words don’t come out. The silence fills up the room for a second. 

“I mean it’s up to you, of course but I would like you to try. At least, for one or two sessions. A colleague at work recommended me an excellent psychiatrist. She has a practise downtown and she gave me an appointment for this Friday…what do you think?”

“I…I guess I could try; I didn’t think about that, but Isn’t it expensive?” 

“Don’t worry about the money, Case.” David says.

The silence comes back and Casey nods. 

“Alright then, I’ll go.” She smiles at them and Casey can tell they all seem relieved and happy by her decision. 

As soon as Joseph leaves later on that evening, Casey comes back to her room and closes the door. She allows herself to take a deep breath in and out and to relax as she is back in her little bubble. She can hear the television downstairs where the Dunn’s are watching a movie. She grabs her phone and lays down on her bed, on her back, her arm up as she looks at her phone. She can see two unread texts. Kevin. 

‘Okay, I’ll wait for your call.’ Received three hours earlier.

‘Casey, I’m not letting this go. Call me.’ Received twenty minutes ago. Dennis. 

She closes her eyes and sighs, resigned. She finally clicks on the ‘green phone’ on her screen and Dennis picks up straight away, after only one ring. 

‘Casey.’ The tone is strong and firm, but Casey can hear the worry and eagerness behind it. She manages to crack a smile when she finally hears the strong Boston accent. She missed it. She missed him.

‘Casey, where have you been?’ 

‘I…I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to disappear on you like that. But everything is fine…I’m fine.’ 

Her voice is hoarse due to emotions but somewhat quiet. Her voice dies and none of them talk for a few seconds, the line silent. Casey knows he’s far from satisfied and he’s waiting for more, but she can’t get the words out, like she lost her voice. She opens her mouth a few times in an attempt to say something, but she simply doesn’t know what to say, where to start. 

‘Casey.’ How could he say her name in such a threatening way? Casey definitely hear the warning in the way he said her name.

‘Something came up and I’m not living at my uncle anymore. I’m back at the Dunn’s.’

‘What happened? Did he hurt you?’ 

She can feel a throat tightens and the tears coming up, but she grits her teeth as she doesn’t want to cry on the phone, she knows she wouldn’t be able to stop. 

‘Yeah, he did.’ Her voice cracks and she try to hide it behind a cough. 

Casey waits for him to say something but only silence answer her. She finally hears him exhale sharply after sometimes. 

‘Are you safe?’ 

‘Yes, I am. The Dunn’s are so good to me, they really take care of me. They got me as an emergency fostering and Joe is helping me to revise for my high school diploma.’

‘Case, why haven’t you answer any of my texts and calls? We were worried sick. -He waits awhile but Casey doesn’t answer so he carries on- I just want to understand, if you don’t want to see us anymore, I’ll stop bothering you, I… Case?... Talk to me.’ 

His voice is hesitant, and Casey can hear the plead in his last words.

‘It’s not that…I wanted to talk to you so bad but I just… Things got really bad and I moved in with the Dunn’s, it went so quick, I’m sorry.’ 

‘Can we meet? I want to see you.’

Casey sits up at that and she can feel her heart quicken. She really wants to see him but not like that, not with a black eye, not after what happened. Would he still want her? Find her attractive? Would he be disgusted by her?

‘I want to see you too, but I can’t right now. Maybe after graduation.’

‘Case, I know you’re hiding something. What is it?’

‘I’m not sure I want you to find out, to be honest.’ 

‘Did he…- Casey can hear him inhale sharply through the nose and let escape a quiet ‘Jesus’ and she can imagine him rubbing the back of his head -Casey, whatever happened, it doesn’t change anything, I still want to see you. You don’t have to tell me anything.’ 

‘I gotta go, I talk to you later.’

‘No, Casey. Don’t hang…’

She hangs up on him before he could finish, and she silence her phone when he tries to call her back.

Friday comes quicker than expected and Casey takes a deep breath before she reached for the front door of Dr Fletcher’s apartment. She places a shaky hand on the big golden handle before pushing the heavy wooden door. Dr Fletcher’s apartment, which is also her practise, is located in a posh neighbourhood and the building itself is classy and Victorian. She climbs the spiral stairs made of marble and finally reaches Dr Fletcher’s practise. The drive to Dr Fletcher’s place has been quiet and Audrey offered multiple times to go with Casey in order to support her, but Casey refused politely. She had waved to Audrey who seemed anxious and she drove away in her red SUV when she saw Casey disappear in the building.

Before Casey could knock, Dr Fletcher opened the door to welcome her with a warm smile.

“You must be Casey. I’m Dr Fletcher. -She says as she shakes her hand softly. She opens the door slightly more and move aside in order to let Casey in.-Welcome in. Would you like a tea or a glass of water?”

Dr Fletcher is a woman of a certain age; she has short white hair and sparkly green eyes under a pair of thin golden framed pair of glasses. She seems very classy and intelligent, but also soft spoken and patient. 

The inside of the apartment is like the rest of the building, classy and Victorian with expensive furniture and arts. Dr Fletcher gets Casey to sit in a small siting room that contains two comfortable looking armchairs, a small glass coffee table, multiple plants, a bowl of chocolates and sweet, and the walls are covered in a library with hundreds of books. Casey accepts the lemon tea that Dr Fletcher offers her, and she quietly study her environment. Dr Fletcher finally comes back with their tea and she sits down in front of Casey, a notepad and pen in her hand.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Casey. I’ve talked to your foster mom and she explained me your situation. She is worried about you; you seem to have lost your appetite and you stopped communicating. Those are signs of depression. And this is completely normal after what happened to you.” 

She sips on her tea, observing Casey.

“I’m not doing that bad.” Casey whispers.

“Your uncle is going to be sentenced in two weeks and it is likely, he will go to jail for a very long time. How does it make you feel?” 

Casey shrugs as she looks somewhere else, trying not to think about it.

“Does it make you happy? Does it reassure you?... Does it sadden you?”

“Why would it sadden me?” 

“Because he’s your uncle, your only family. It’s okay to be sad.” 

“I’m not sad.” She mutters but Dr Fletcher heard her. 

“You’re angry at him?”

“Yes.”

“For what he’s done?”

“For everything. He made me feel disgusting, I still feel disgusting and wrong. I hate him for making me hate myself.” 

“Casey, you’re not disgusting nor wrong. Don’t hate yourself for something you haven’t done. You’re the victim.” 

Casey scoffs. “Well, it sucks to be a victim.” 

At that, Dr Fletcher smiles slightly, a little corner smile that she tries to hide but Casey catches it and somehow it reassures her, comfort her. Maybe Dr Fletcher wasn’t a cold and judgemental doctor, like she expected her to be.

“Are you happy to live with your foster parents?” 

“Yes, we’re close. They’ve always been really good to me. I owe them so much.” 

“How would you feel about going back to school?” 

A look of terror paints Casey’s face and a feeling of dread run through her at the thought of going back to high school and facing her classmates and teachers. She would rather hide at the Dunn’s until she can sit her exams. Actually, now that she thinks about it, she’d rather hide at the Dunn’s forever and never face the world ever again. 

“I don’t wanna go back there. School is almost over anyway; I don’t see the point. Joseph helps me revise my exams and I know I’m gonna get my high school diploma just fine.” She answers quickly, almost defensively like she is scared to be send back to school. 

Dr Fletcher nods.

“I think it would be a mistake to send you back to school, honestly. It’s too rapid and I think you need time to recover and rebuilt yourself. Is there anything in particular you would like to talk about?”

Casey bites her lower lip, thinking of what to say but her thoughts are so messy that she can’t get anything out. A few seconds passes and Dr Fletcher sits quietly, waiting and observing Casey carefully. 

“If something like what happened to me would happened to you, would you tell your partner about it?” 

Her question is clumsy and hesitant like she didn’t know how to formulate it or make sense of it. Silence answers her.

“Have you got a boyfriend who doesn’t know what happened to you? Did I understand well?” 

“I met someone, and things were going well, we really clicked, he understands me, and I feel safe and… special when I’m with him. -Casey shakes her head slowly, almost embarrassed to reveal such ‘silly’ and ‘puppy love’ feelings. -But now, I don’t know what to do. Things are so complicated. He’s older than me and the Dunn’s don’t know about him and I think this is for the best ‘cause I don’t think they would approve of me seeing him and I don’t want to disappoint them. I’m also scared of him knowing what happened to me. What if I disgust him and he doesn’t want to be with me anymore? And I know I can’t hide it from him.” 

“If he’s someone you’re planning to have in your life and build a serious relationship with, then I do think it would be a good idea to tell him what happened. Now everyone is different, and I cannot predict his reactions but telling him the truth will let you know if he can handle it and help you through it. Your worries for your foster family’s approval are completely normal and justified. The Dunn’s family seems very protective of you and they will want you to be careful who you trust and let inside your life especially when it comes to men.” 

“What am I supposed to do then?” 

“Unfortunately, I cannot answer that. I can only guide you and listen to you. Why do you think your relationship might disappoint your foster family?” 

“Because he’s older and for being in a relationship despite what happened to me.” 

“Are you saying that because of what happened you shouldn’t be in a relationship?” 

“Maybe. I should be disgusted by men, right? I shouldn’t want to be with someone.” 

“This is such a harsh way of seeing things. You don’t have to punish yourself so much, Casey. You deserve to move on and to be with someone if that’s what you want.” 

“What if that someone doesn’t want me after what happened to me?” 

“Then, at least, you’ll know that this person doesn’t deserve to be in your life.” 

Casey nods slightly, lost in her thoughts before two knocks on the door brings her back to reality. Dr Fletcher checks her gold watch on her wrist and slightly jump.

“Oh, my goodness, I got caught up again. Our session has come to an end, I’m afraid. That must be my next patient. -She stands up and walk to her desk as she takes a pen and paper. -Casey, how would you feel if I’d prescribed you some Prozac? I’d like to give you something to get you through it, it might help. Will you take them?”

Casey shrugs and answers a quiet “I’ll take them.”  
Dr Fletcher writes a prescription before handing it to Casey. They both walk to the front door and Dr Fletcher put her hand on the golden handle as she opens it slightly, leaving it ajar.

“It was nice meeting you, Casey. I really would like to see you again; I think we would work well together. Let Mrs Dunn know if you’d like to see me again so we can arrange a weekly meeting.” 

“I will.” Casey nods and shakes Dr Fletcher’s hands before she opens the door completely.

As Casey turns around to get out, her eyes directly meet Kevin’s. Both look at each other bewildered and surprised at the same time and none of them dare to make a move. Casey cannot believe it, Kevin is standing there…No, not Kevin, Barry by the looks of it. He’s wearing a black baggy Levi, a red sweater with a hoody and a black winter hat. Casey can see how bright and shiny his blue eyes are. Definitely Barry. She can read all the emotions passing on his face, surprise, understanding, sadness, affection. Dennis did say they were seeing a psychiatrist but in all the psychiatrist in Philadelphia, it had to be Dr Fletcher.  
The silence fills the room as Casey and Barry cannot seem to look anywhere else or say anything. Dr Fletcher clears her throat.

“Barry. Thank you for waiting. Would you like to come in?” She offers politely as she pushes the front door open even more.  
Barry does not answer as his gaze is still on Casey, searching her face for answers. He gently lifts his hand to her face and caresses slightly the bruise of her black eye at the tip of his fingers. It felt like the time has stops and Casey can read the pain and sorrow in Barry’s eyes and expression. His eyes are teary, and his frown is deeper. 

“Casey.” He whispers but both Casey and Dr Fletcher heard it


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

It felt like time had stopped but the sound of Barry’s broken voice, whispering Casey’s name seemed to put the clock back in action. Casey can finally escape Barry’s gaze and gives a quick and worried look towards Dr Fletcher whose face is painted with shocked comprehension; her hand slightly covering her agape mouth. Casey’s eyebrows are frowned with worry and anguish whereas Barry is still intensely looking at her, his gaze unable to leave her face. Finally, Dr Fletcher’s eyes meets Casey’s and understanding passes through them.  
Casey opens her mouth as she would be about to explain herself, but nothing comes out, and she suddenly feels exhausted; she cannot bring herself to face the situation. 

“I gotta go.” She says quietly as she cowardly pushes through Barry to make her way to the stairs in order to leave. Barry seems to get out of his frozen state and grips Casey’s arm in order to keep her from leaving. 

“Don’t run off, Casey.” His voice has changed, and Casey knows this voice belongs to Dennis. It was strong and firm, the order is clear underneath the desperate tone as if he was tired of chasing after her. 

Casey freezes and sighs. She slowly turns around to face them and she notices Dr Fletcher had lifted a weak hand to her chest and she was now sporting a sadden look. 

“I have to go. Mrs Dunn is probably waiting for me already.” She says softly like she was trying to reassure the both of them. 

“Dennis -Dr Fletcher calls out -Is Casey the young lady you mentioned before?” 

Dennis sighs and closes his eyes, his face slightly tilted towards the floor, his hand still gripping firmly Casey’s arm.

“Yes.” 

“Casey, given the situation, would you consider a joint session? I just would like to clarify the situation, nothing that we discussed in private session will be shared in joint session. - She adds quickly seeing the distraught look on Casey’s face. -Dennis, would you mind if we use the beginning of your session for a coupled session with Casey?” 

“No, of course not.” He answers.

“What about Mrs Dunn? I don’t want her to worry.” Casey says quietly. 

“Don’t worry, I will give her a quick call and let her know that I’d like to keep you for a little bit longer. I’m sure she’ll understand.” 

Casey thinks for a second or two and finally gives in, sighing. “Okay.” She notices that Dennis seems to relax at her answer, his tense shoulders slightly slacking. 

“Come on in, guys.” Dr Fletcher says as she leads the way back inside her apartment. Dennis finally drops Casey’s arm and he holds the door open for her before he follows her inside. 

As Casey and Dennis enters the sitting area, Dr Fletcher gives a call to Audrey in her office and her voice is the only sound that disturb the deep silence of her apartment. The silence is awkward, and Casey sits down on one of the armchairs, her arms resting on her legs, and she keeps her face down, looking at the floor, avoiding Dennis. Her long hair hides her face, but she can feel Dennis’s calculating gaze on her as he stands rigidly near the door frame, facing her. Dr Fletcher comes in and clears her throat, feeling the tension in the room. 

“Mrs Dunn is happy the session went well, and she doesn’t see any problem if I keep you a tad longer. She’ll pick you up in twenty minutes.” Dr Fletcher says smoothly and gives Casey a gentle smile as this one meets her eyes. Casey catches Dennis in the corner of her eyes, he is still standing straight, muscly arms crossed over his strong chest, his eyes fixed on her, studying her. 

“Dennis, could you come and sit with us, please? - Dr Fletcher requires, and he obeys, sitting down on another armchair -Dennis have told me about you, Casey. It is nice to finally put a face on the mysterious girl. I just wish it would be in other circumstances. Casey, are you aware of Kevin’s disorder?” 

“I am. I don’t see it as a disorder though, it’s just three people sharing the same body.” She shrugs nonchalantly but Dr Fletcher’s face warms up happily and Dennis swallows thickly with emotions. 

“I wish everyone would be as open minded as you, my dear. What is the status of your relationship, if I may?” 

Casey hesitantly looks towards Dennis who looks at his hands nervously. 

“I…” Casey starts uncertain, as she wasn’t sure if Dennis planned on responding at all, but he cuts her off.

“We’re seeing each other. I’m invested.” He says, meeting Casey’s eyes, they lock for a second and she notices clearly that his eyes fall on her black eye before turning his gaze away, his jaw locked furiously. 

“Casey is not legal yet and I told you getting involve with a minor is not only illegal but also problematic when we know your past. -She says, looking at Dennis but this one keeps silent, looking at his clasped hands. She turns towards Casey who’s looking distraught. -Casey, I won’t lie, I was and remain against this relationship. Dennis have lost control, in the past, with a lady younger than him. Illegality and morality kept aside; I am afraid of a certain pattern here. Do you see where I’m going with this?” 

Casey swallows with difficulty as she feels her throat tighten. She nods.

“I’ll be eighteen in four days and legality won’t be a problem anymore. Also, I am the one who insisted on seeing him and they have been honest, they haven’t hide anything from me.” 

“Even when you’ll be eighteen, the age gap is significant enough for people, including your foster family, to question the morality of the relationship. If this relationship carries on, you both have to be prepared for criticisms. I want the two of you to understand the situation you’re in and be ready for anything coming your way.” 

“I’m not afraid of criticism or disapproval. I lived with those my whole life. -Dennis says with his thick Boston accent, his tone is implacable, and Casey feels herself breathing easier as she basks in Dennis’s strength. – I’m not afraid to hurt her anymore. Barry is involved as much as I am, this time and he agrees that Casey has a positive effect on us. She knows everything there is to know and Barry will never let me lose control again.” 

Dr Fletcher observes him but stays impassive for a second before she finally nods. 

“Casey is having a difficult time at the moment and I would like you to be patient and wait for her to come back to you, if that’s what she wants. -They both seems to tense at that, both of them look at each other nervously and Casey can tell Dennis tries to read through her as if he was trying to fish any information he could get, but Casey turns away, facing Dr Fletcher once again. -Casey, is there anything you would like to say or discuss before I let you go?” 

She sighs, overthinking, her hand matted tightly in her hair, near her scalp but she finally looks up at them. 

“People need to stop worrying about me. -She says as she looks at both of them, simultaneously. – And I’m fed up with people judging me and telling me what to do. I’ve listened to my uncle dictate my whole life since I was born. I’m fine and I’ll do what I want at the pace that I want. I’ll tell Mrs Dunn to book me for another session. “ 

She gets up. “I’ll let you finish your session, now.” She says as Dr Fletcher stands up to walk her to the door. 

“Wait.” The firm voice echoes in the quiet apartment and both women stop walking. Casey turns around and Dennis stands confidently in the sitting area, back straight, muscly strong arms crossed on his pumped chest. Casey would’ve almost laugh seeing such a serious and authoritative Dennis wearing baggy jeans and a sweater, but he makes her feel so small and fragile when he stands so tall, his eyes locked on hers. 

“Casey, I meant it. Nothing could make me change my mind about you. I’ll be patient, I’ll wait for you to come around.” 

Casey nods, emotions tightening her throat.

“I see you later, D.” She adds with a forced playful smile, in order to play down the situation. She catches the slight quiet laugh that sounded more like an amused sigh that escapes his lips before leaving.

When they get home, Joseph is already there, waiting for her, watching television. The drive back home was mostly quiet, Audrey hadn’t dare asking too many questions, but Casey pushed herself to talk about her session and Audrey seemed happy about having a conversation with her. As soon as they get through the door, the smell of the wax for the wooden floor hits Casey and she feels her whole body relax. Leaving her sanctuary for an hour and a half had left like an eternity and she was happy to be back home. She let herself drop near Joseph with a loud sigh.

“That bad, uh?” Joseph asks with a cheeky smile. 

She has a tired smile.

“It went well actually. Dr Fletcher is nice. I’m just tired.” 

“You’re in luck, I’m not planning on bugging you with any revisions tonight. I was thinking to watch a movie or something.” 

“Sure. Sounds good. Can we watch a classic horror movie?” 

“Yeah, we can check Netflix, or I’ll download whatever you want.” 

Casey went for Friday 13th which was on Netflix, Joseph plugged the HDMI cable on to the TV screen. Audrey decided to have takeout for dinner and ordered two XL pizzas over the phone. They all sat in the living room to share the pizzas while watching the horror movie. Audrey was the most horrified by the movie, jumping out of her skin and covering her eyes when a scene was too gore, making them all laugh. Casey discretely looked at them all as they were busy watching, a smile on her lips. She was lucky, she thought. She felt at home, she felt right, but she craved her freedom, living on her own, in her flat, with her privacy. She simply couldn’t wait to be by herself and finally do whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted without worrying about consequences and other people’s feelings. They would understand, right? At the end of the movie, the Dunn’s call it a night and go to bed after saying goodnight, leaving Joseph and Casey alone in the quiet living room. Joseph puts on a random TV show about ghost hunting and leans closer to Casey.

“Would you like to do something tomorrow?” He asks. The house is completely dark except for the light emitted from the TV, that reflects on them. 

“What do you have in mind?” She shrugs, not really wanting to get out of this house. 

“It’s Rivalry Day tomorrow. Our University plays against Baltimore University. It’s quite a fun day, all the sport teams compete and usually people drink and party on campus. I’ll be playing and after, we gonna get some food with the boys. Would you like to tag along?” 

A part of her felt terrified about the idea of facing hundreds of happy and over excited college students and she could already feel her social anxiety kick in but another part of her was quite excited about the idea of getting out of the house and being able to go out and meet up with friends freely, without the anguish of repercussions from her drunk uncle. 

“I don’t know…What about that?” She asks pointing at her disappearing black eye.

“It’s almost gone now; mom might have some foundation or something if you wanna covering it up. I’d really like you to support me while I play, pretty please?” He says playfully, with a smile that showed off a range of perfect, pearly white teeth. 

She sighs, amused. “Okay then. What time do I have to be ready, football superstar?” 

“The kick-off is at 1PM but we gotta leave by eleven, if you don’t mind?” 

“Oh, you’re staying tonight then?” She realised, Joseph rarely stayed during the night and she almost forgot that it was indeed his house too. 

“Yeah it’s late and it’s easier for me to drive you there than you take a bus.” 

They carry on talking for a little bit more and Joseph call it a night when he saw Casey couldn’t stop yawning. When Casey got to her room, she was surprised not to find any unread texts or missing calls on her phone that she fetched on her desk. He did say he would wait, she thought. She sighs, laying down in bed, and opens her texts, biting her bottom lip.

‘Hope your session went well with Dr Fletcher? Can’t believe we have the same shriek.’ She sends.

It was almost midnight, but the answer comes almost straight away. 

‘I know, I can’t believe it either :’) It went well, despite the fact Dr Fletcher were on our case a little.’ 

The relax toned let her know that it was Barry and she smiles, it feels like before, when they were texting after school. 

‘Is it because of me?’ She texts him back, slightly worried. 

‘Yes and no, but it’s nothing for you to worry about, baby girl. Anyway, any plan for this week end?’ 

‘Yeah I’m going to Rivalry Day on campus with Joe. He’s playing. You?’

The answer takes longer than expected and she feels guilty. She just throws in his face that she’s doing something fun with Joseph but refuses to see him. She mentally slaps herself. She starts typing something but keep deleting her text as she doesn’t know what to say. However, his answer finally comes.

‘Sounds fun, kiddo. I’m glad you’re having a good time with your friends.’ 

‘Don’t worry, there is nothing going on between me and Joe.’ She texts quickly as she feels oblige to reassure him.

‘I know, you don’t have to reassure us. I want you to have fun.’ 

‘I’ll try to come see you for my birthday, it’s on Tuesday.’ 

‘I’d like that. Just let me know. I’m going to bed, I’m working tomorrow :/ I miss you, Casey.’ 

‘I miss all of you. Night.’ 

Yes, she was drunk alright, she thought.

The day had gone really well, and she had fun. She wore dark blue skinny jeans, a tight white top and some little white trainers for Rivalry Day. She had left her hair fall on her shoulders and back and covered her disappearing black eye with foundation. She felt pretty and free. Joseph drove them to the campus as promise and she has been stressed when she saw how many people there were and for some reasons, it felt like all eyes were on her. Maybe it was the fact she was walking next to the superstar Receiver of the campus? She felt shy and self-conscious, keeping her eyes on the floor the whole time, feeling her social anxiety kicking in badly. Joseph introduced her to a bunch of university girls that already were on the bleaches, they all looked pretty pampered and flirty, they seemed nice and welcoming at first but as soon as Joseph had to go to the changing room, they just ignored her completely. Casey didn’t mind much and just sat nearby, waiting impatiently for the game to start. The game was exciting, and Casey had to admit she had fun and forgot all about her worries and problems. Philadelphia university won and Casey and some of the girls were invited to celebrate back in the halls. They’ve ordered loads of food and two guys came back with bags full of alcohol. As the day went on, Casey started to relax and Joseph’s friends made sure she always had some drinks coming her way even though, Joseph kept repeating them she wasn’t old enough to drink yet. They played games and Casey was completely drunk by nine pm. She couldn’t stop giggling and leaning on Joseph, who didn’t seem to mind. 

Most people started to leave but a few of them stayed watching Netflix on someone’s laptop. As it started to get dark, Joseph decided to bring Casey in his dorm as he didn’t want to have to explain his parents how she managed to get drunk and Casey agreed, it might be a good idea. They both had a shower and Joseph gave her some of his clothes so she could change in something more comfortable. Some trackies and a brand-new t-shirt from his football team. He gave a call to his mom, who didn’t believe one bit that they were all having a sleepover on campus, but she let go eventually. 

“Oh, everything is still a bit turning.” Casey says with a quiet laugh as she crawls in Joseph ‘bed. As the beds in the dorms are single bed, he let Casey has his bed while he made up a bed on the floor of pillows and blanket. 

“My mates were pretty keen on seeing you drunk, I guess.” He laughs as he lays down on his back, looking at the ceiling. 

“I’ve done well though, right? I can hold my liquor.” 

He laughs at that and turns to face her, as she looks at him, perch on his bed, her head resting on her fist. 

“You’re pretty drunk but I’m impressed you haven’t been sick.” 

“Yet.” 

They laugh dies quietly and they both lay back down on their backs. 

“You played well today. I enjoyed the game. Thanks for taking me with you.” 

“I’m glad you had fun, you needed that. It’s been a while I haven’t seen you laugh and let your hair down like that. It was nice to see you like that.” 

She rolls over again and grabs his arm from his bed, squeezing it gently. They lock into each other’s eyes and before one of them can say or do anything, Casey’s phone rings, breaking off the moment. 

Casey let gently go of his arm and she gets up quickly, showing off her pink panties to Joseph in the meantime, as she grabs her jeans that were on the floor, near their beds, and checks the pockets to fetch her phone. Kevin’s name appears on her phone’s screen. He’s calling her and she picks up quickly. 

‘Hey, what’s up?’ She asks nervously, as she looks around for the trackies that Joseph had lend to her. She finally finds them in a ball at the bottom of Joseph’s bed and she clumsily puts them on. She looks up at Joseph who looks at her questionably, but she lifts a hand up in order to reassure him as she steps outside.

‘Hey, I just wanted to know how your day went? I clocked out an hour ago.’ 

Dennis.

‘It went really well actually. I had fun. How was work?’ For some reason, she is nervous like she has been caught doing something she shouldn’t. Joseph is her friend, her brother even, it is okay for her to spend time with him, having fun and sleep in his bed, right? 

‘Work was okay. Nothing particular. What did you do then?’ 

‘We won the game, so we’ve been celebrating and playing games.’ 

‘Have you been drinking?’ 

‘Yeah, I did. A little.’

He doesn’t answer for a while and she hears him sigh. At the same moment, Joseph opens the door of his bedroom ajar, and puts his head through. 

“Hey, everything okay? Who is it?” Joseph asks quietly, but Casey freezes. She nods.

“Yeah, I’ll be here in a minute.” She answers quickly, whispering, he looks at her for a second before going back in his bedroom, closing the door behind him. 

‘Who was that? Are you still on campus?’ Dennis asks. 

‘That was Joe and we’re staying here tonight ‘cause I was a bit drunk and we didn’t want his parents to find out.’ 

‘Where are you sleeping?’ 

Casey let escape an annoyed sigh.

‘In his dorm room, but you don’t have to worry about anything.’ 

The silence comes back, and she waits for him to say something, but nothing comes. 

‘Say something, for fuck’s sake!’ She says angrily, her voice getting higher. 

‘What? What do you want me to say? That I’m pissed. You’ve been ignoring me for almost two weeks, I’ve been chasing after you the whole time and you barely got back to me. Now, I give you some time and for all I know, you’re partying around and sleeping with that kid. So, yeah, I’m pissed off.’ 

‘I don’t sleep with anyone. Who do you think I am? What do you want me to do? Go home, I’ll be grounded, and Joe would get into trouble. You know what, I don’t really have to explain myself. I call you later.’ 

‘Casey, don’t hang up on me.’

‘Or what? What you gonna do, Bossy?’ She asks like a petulant brat. 

It seems to shock him into silence and Casey cannot stop herself from laughing out loud. The tension falling off.

‘Quit playing, Case. You’re drunk.’ 

‘Oh yeah. I’ve been a really bad girl, Mr Dennis.’ She says in a playful tone.

‘Jesus.’ He whispers, exasperate. 

‘How are you gonna punish me?’ 

‘I won’t.’ 

‘Don’t you want to spank me or tie me up to your bed? Or both?’

‘Casey. Be quiet.’ 

‘You sure love to order me around, though. It does turn me on, you know. Makes my pussy really wet.’ She says quietly, giggling. 

‘Stop it.’ He says, his voice slightly hoarse.

‘Why? Cause it makes you hard?’ 

He sighs and Casey can tell it sounds like a plea. The corridors of the university hall are empty and quiet, and she quietly walks to the girl’s toilets that are equally empty. A crazy idea comes to her and she blames it on the alcohol. 

‘Dennis? Are you hard?’ She whispers and she has a playful smile on. 

‘Yes.’ 

‘I’m in the toilets, it’s empty. I’m wearing a black tank top and a black thong. - Okay, she lied but he wasn’t here to see it – My pussy is pretty wet, my thong is wet too. What are you wearing?’

‘Hm…Black t-shirt and trackies.’ He says hesitant and Casey rolls her eyes as she can imagine him replacing his glasses while double checking what he is wearing. 

‘That’s hot, I love how you fill up your clothes. You’re hot and well-made. If I’d be with you right now, I’d touch your arms and chest, slowly. I’d take my time and I’d play with the elastic of your boxer. Just to see your dick twitch.’ She swallows but her mouth is dry. She is excited by the situation and she can feel herself getting wet and flushed.

‘Casey, do you want me to touch myself?’ He says, his voice hoarse.

The question electrifies her, and she feels powerful right now, she couldn’t believe that a grown man was waiting for permission and guidance from her. She feels in control and she loves it. 

‘Yes, but take your time. I don’t want you to cum too fast.’ 

‘Okay but what about you?’ 

‘Don’t worry about me, D. My panties are so wet, and my pussy is so swollen.’ She cringes.

‘God.’ 

‘Are you thinking about me?’ 

‘I…I always think about you.’ 

‘What are you gonna do to me when I’ll see you?’

‘Anything you want, baby. I’ll do anything you want.’

‘Even, licking my pussy until I cum?’

‘Fuck. Is that what you want?’

‘Yes, I want you on your knees, licking me out. Being real good for me.’

‘Shit. I’ll do it, as long as you want, babe. Case?’

‘What is it?’

‘Am I allowed to cum?’

‘Go ahead. Cum for me.’

She can hear him breathing quicker and he let escape a masculine groan, almost as if he was in pain and Casey knows he’s done. She can hear him catching his breath and move around. She giggles as she can’t believe what just happened. 

‘Did you like it?’ She asks.

‘Yeah, it was hot. What about you? You didn’t…’

‘Don’t worry, I’ll wait to see you. I can’t really do anything around here, it’s too stressful.’ 

‘It was my first time on the phone. -He giggles- I’m sorry for getting mad earlier. I’m just…I like you and you know…’

‘I’d be upset too. He’s sleeping on the floor. I’ll be good. I’ve got to go. Night, D.’

She hangs up after she hears him wishing her a goodnight and she gets out of the cubicle she was. Reality coming back to her. Joseph must have thought she ran off or something. Yes, she was drunk alright.


End file.
